The District 205 Board of Education approved the 2022 tax levy of $23,856,768 at their meeting on Monday.
Assistant Superintendent for Finance Jennifer Hamm told the board that the tax levy was increased over last year, matching the increases seen in the projected Equalized Assessed Value of the district, an increase she described as “significant.”
The projected EAV for the portion of the district in Knox County increased by 5.6 percent while the EAV of the portion of Warren County improved by 13.46 percent.
While the tax levy is increasing over the last year, the tax rate will remain flat according to Hamm.
“When the aggregate levy increases more than five percent, it can be for a couple of different reasons,” Hamm explained to the board on Monday. “One, it can be because the taxing body is increasing the tax rate. Or, it could be because the EAV, which is the Equalized Assessed Valuation of the properties, within the school district has increased – and that is the case here. So we are not increasing our tax rate.”
The tax rate from the school district will remain flat at 4.73 – or $4.73 for every $100 of the assessed value of a property. If a property’s value was not reassessed in the last year, then the property owner should not see an increase on their tax bill as a result of the school board’s levy.
Because the EAV increases are still only projections, the district approved a tax levy of $24,1113,208. This levy is exaggerated to potentially capture a higher levy from a surprisingly higher EAV. This is routine for districts to ask for a higher amount to capture any extra EAV growth.
