Fox River Grove village board to vote property tax levy extension increase

The Fox River Grove Village Board will vote on an increase to its property tax levy extension at the next village board meeting.

Last year’s actual levy for the village was $925,019. This year, it is asking for $954,156, $29,137 more than it received last year.

However, what the village anticipates it will actually receive this year is $944,156, as it is not able to levy over the Consumer Price Index, which is 1.9% this year.

Village Administrator Derek Soderholm said the village overlevies to make sure it captures new property.

The village’s police pension costs rise faster in terms of actual dollars than what the village is receiving in additional dollars for the CPI levy, Soderholm said, which is eroding the amount of money available for the village’s general operations.

While the village’s police pension obligations are going up $46,500, the village is only taking in another $17,966 of new property, Soderholm said.

“Our fund is not funded at a level that it needs to be,” he said, although he added that recent pension consolidation efforts by the state could help with this problem.

Trustees Jennifer Curtiss, Andrew Migdal, Melissa Schladt and Patrick Wall voted in favor of the tentative levy increase, according to the minutes of the board’s Nov. 19 meeting. Trustee Jacob Fleischmann voted against it.

A property owner with a $200,000 home will pay about $7.70 of additional property tax. The total amount of the bill Fox River Grove would receive is $405, Soderholm said.

Soderholm said that despite the increase, the amount of dollars the village will be collecting from homeowners is still less than it was two years ago because of a bond that was paid off in association with construction of the Municipal Center.

The board will vote on officially approving the tax levy at its next meeting Tuesday.