Tax Bill FAQ UPDATE: Which Cities/Villages Held Tax Levies Flat? Which Didn't?

Tax Bill FAQ UPDATE: Which Cities/Villages Held Tax Levies Flat? Which Didn’t?

  • Editor’s Note: This is the fourth of a series of articles sharing information from the Frequently Asked Questions about the 2014 (payable 2015) Kane County Property Tax Bills document published online through the coordinated efforts of Kane County Supervisor of Assessments Mark Armstrong, Kane County Clerk John A. Cunningham and Kane County Treasurer David Rickert.
  • Editor’s Note 2: This article was updated from an earlier version to include an explanation of the village of Pingree Grove tax levy increase and to correct an error in the text that put the village of Barrington Hills and Carpentersville in the wrong grouping of municipalities (those that lowered levies, those that kept levies flat or within 1 percent and those with increases of 1 percent or more.) The correct information from the FAQ is in the chart below, which was part of the initial post.

Some municipalities in Kane County are extending lower levies than they did a year ago. Some are not.

This is something you might notice, as property tax bills arrive in the mail this week for Kane County property owners.

Apparently, it’s good to live a city beginning with the letter “B” in Kane County, because Bartlett, Batavia and Burlington all lowered their 2014 extended tax levies, which are payable in 2015.

Levies were flat or within 1 percent of the previous year in Algonquin, East Dundee, Hoffman Estates and St. Charles.

Levies were up in Aurora, Barrington Hills, Carpentersville, Elburn, Elgin, Geneva, Gilberts, Hampshire, Huntley, Maple Park, Montgomery, North Aurora, Pingree Grove, Sleepy Hollow, South Elgin, Sugar Grove, Virgil, Wayne and West Dundee.

The highest were Pingree Grove (12.76 percent), West Dundee (9.25 percent), Aurora (5.38 percent), Carpentersville (4.96 percent) and Hampshire (4.84 percent).

Pingree Grove Director of Finance Thomas G. Walter notes that Pingree Grove’s levy increase had a lot to do with new growth and an expansion of the tax base, which is good news in a lot of ways — including a generally lower tax rate. In fact, the village added property totalling more than $12 million for the tax extension levy. “The addition of new property is what lead to a double digit increase in the amount of the levy,” Walter said.

We’ll follow up on that thought — with a bit more on the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law — in an article tomorrow.

It’s also important to note that the city or village taxes take up a small portion of your total tax bill. In Kane County 0verall, villages and cities account for 9.8 percent of the bill. Typically, schools take up the biggest slice of the pie — an average of 69.1 percent in Kane County.

Finally, you’ll see some zeroes in the levies below for certain villages which did not extend a levy the past two years. The #DIV/0! is the “percent change” column simply means you can’t divide by zero.

Q: Did my city/village hold its property tax levy flat as compared to last year?

A: The answer varies by city or village; please see the following data: Screen Shot 2015-04-27 at 3.20.50 PM

Where to Call

For information about how these tax levies were determined, please contact the municipality that developed the levy ordinance (see phone number listed below):

  • Algonquin — (847) 658-2700
  • Aurora — (630) 256-4636
  • Barrington Hills — (847) 551-3000
  • Bartlett — (630) 837-0800
  • Batavia — (630) 454-2000
  • Big Rock — (630) 556-4365
  • Burlington — (847) 683-2237
  • Campton Hills — (630) 584-5700
  • Carpentersville — (847) 426-3439
  • East Dundee — (847) 426-2822
  • Elburn — (630) 365-5060
  • Elgin — (847) 931-6100
  • Geneva — (630) 232-7494
  • Gilberts — (847) 428-2861
  • Hampshire — (847) 683-2181
  • Hoffman Estates — (847) 882-9100
  • Huntley — (847) 515-5200
  • Kaneville —  (630) 557-0037
  • Lily Lake — (630) 365-9677
  • Maple Park — (815) 827-3309
  • Montgomery — (630) 896-8080
  • North Aurora — (630) 897-8228
  • Pingree Grove — (847) 464-5533
  • Sleepy Hollow — (847) 428-2266
  • South Elgin — (847) 742-5780
  • St Charles — (630) 377-4400
  • Sugar Grove — (630) 466-4507
  • Virgil — (630) 365-6677
  • Wayne — (630) 584-3090
  • West Dundee — (847) 551-3800

For More Information

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Tax Bill FAQ Series