Clarendon Hills OKs Slightly Increased 2011 Levy

Clarendon Hills residents will see a small increase in the village’s portion of their property tax bill for fiscal year 2013 after the Village Board unanimously passed the 2011 levy, the third straight levy that has increased the village’s property tax rate as home values fall.

Under Monday’s “balloon levy,” which village finance director Peg Hartnett said will likely come down a slightly smaller amount when it’s finalized in the spring, homeowners in Clarendon Hills would pay approximately 64 cents to the village for every $100 of their home’s equalized assessed value (EAV). That’s up about 5 cents from the 2010 rate of approximately 59 cents per $100.

According to village staff, such a raise would equate to a $93 increase for the average Clarendon Hills home.

As a non-home-rule municipality,  must adhere to tax cap legislation that limits levy increases by the prior year’s consumer price index (CPI) or five percent, whichever is less. That cap, however, does not apply to new construction in the village, which is expected to be valued at $5,952,860 in 2011, according to the Downers Grove Township Assessor.

The official value of new construction won’t be known until April, but if the township’s estimate holds true it would represent a 52 percent increase over 2010.

The village used a balloon estimate of $6.1 million in new construction for Monday’s calculation to make sure the village captures all available revenue when the new construction figure is finalized. Levies can only be decreased in the spring; they can't be increased.

“We do it pretty close,” Hartnett said of the ballooned levy.

The $3,371,008 in revenue that would be collected under Monday’s levy would be 2.64 percent more than 2010’s levy of $3,284,445. The 2010 CPI is 1.5 percent, so approximately 1.14 percent of the raise is due to the village’s new construction.

“That gives you that extra little boost,” Hartnett said.

The rate increases of the last three levies have coincided with a decreasing overall EAV of property in Clarendon Hills since its 2009 levy.

Like the new construction figure, overall EAV won’t be official until April, but the township assessor is projecting a 6.59 percent decrease in Clarendon Hills’ EAV in 2011. The estimated value of all property is $501.8 million, down from $537.2 million in 2010.

The village’s EAV was $568 million in 2009.

Hartnett said the EAV and tax rate trends are related. Without big spending cuts, the village needs approximately the same amount of money to operate each year, if not more due to rising pension obligations. If the village's EAV goes down, it means the rate per $100 must rise to make up the difference.

From 2006 to 2009 the two trends were flip-flopped. As Clarendon Hills’ overall EAV rose from $478.7 million to $568 million during that timeframe, the rate per $100 paid to the village by homeowners in property taxes fell from 56 cents to 54 cents.

Of the approximately $3.4 million that would be collected by the levy passed Monday, the largest chunk, $827,172, would go towards general government. Fire protection would get $749,297, police protection would get $556,321, and streets and bridges would get $237,636. More than $230,000 would go towards social security and more than $370,000 would go towards funding the village’s police and fire pensions.

The has its own levy separate from the village. Its levy would increase by the same 2.64 percent and would raise the property tax rate to 76 cents per $100 of EAV when combined with the village’s levy.

Also Monday:

• The Village Board voted to pass on a 12 percent water-rate increase to Clarendon Hills residents in 2012 after the village's supplier, the DuPage Water Commission, made the first of several rate increases to municipalities that will total 115 percent by 2015.
• Trustees confirmed the home rule referendum will appear on the March primary ballot after previously discussing the option of pushing it to the November general election ballot.
• It was announced that the Jan. 3 Village Board meeting has been canceled. Village offices will be closed for the upcoming holidays Dec. 23 through Dec. 26. They will be closed Jan. 2, as well.