Monmouth Aldermen next month will consider a property tax levy of over $2.623 million.
The tax levy is an increase that captures only the growth in the city’s Equalized Assessed Value and is reflected on a minimal increase to the tax rate, which is 2.93 percent – or $2.93 for every hundred dollars of assessed value.
In the last year, the tax base in Monmouth has increased by over 3.4 million dollars.
City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher tells WGIL that the overwhelming majority of the tax levy is going towards the unfunded pension liability that the State of Illinois controls.
“Of that $2,623,000, $1,873,000 of [the levy] is going to be used to make contributions to the police and fire pension funds,” Steinbrecher said in a Tuesday morning interview. “And, that represents about 72 percent of the total property tax levy.”
Steinbrecher says that the city has contributed over $16.6 million towards the police and fire pension funds over the last 13 years. And, in the past 11 years, contributions have increased by 148 percent.
$400,000 of the tax levy, or about 15.2 percent, is going toward paying debt services, and the remaining 13.3 percent, or $350,000, will go toward city services.
Steinbrecher adds that the increase in the EAV is a reflection of the growth the community has seen with the Monmouth Townhomes project and economic improvements seen in businesses around the downtown area.
