DeKalb taxpayers could owe hundreds more in 2023 property taxes to District 428

DeKALB – DeKalb School District 428 staff recently proposed a property tax levy that would see homeowners pay upwards of $400 more on their 2023 tax bills next spring compared to 2022.

It’s a move that has split the school board. While the district’s proposed 2023 property tax levy rate, if approved, is lower than in 2022, a lowered rate likely won’t save homeowners’ wallets.

The school board recently voted 3-2 to approve posting a public notice of the proposed levy, with the dissenting votes cast by Board Vice President Steven Byers and Board Member Christopher Boyes. Board members Ariel Owens, President Deyci Ramirez and Vanta Bynum voted in support. Board Member Andre Powell abstained. Some board members expressed concerns about allowing the district to proceed with publishing a notice about its property tax levy.

No final vote has yet been taken, and residents will get chances to weigh in before that. A special board meeting not yet announced is expected to occur before a Dec. 12 public hearing.

Byers said he believes the property tax levy proposal falls short of its aim.

“I’d like to see us do more for the taxpayer,” Byers said.

Boyes shared that sentiment.

“With all of this new money coming in, I would like to get as close as possible to holding our current taxpayers harmless for the fact that there was increased economic development,” Boyes said.

Powell said he decided to abstain from the vote because he’s still new to the school board and has homework to do.

“I want to make sure I’m informed,” Powell said. “I want to make sure I get it right.”

Under the proposal, the district expects to collect an estimated $82.6 million in revenue. Officials have listed funding a new elementary school on the city’s north side as a priority for its approved $132.6 million budget in the new year. The taxes extended or abated for 2022 amount to $61.8 million, or 33.6%, more than in 2022, school board documents report.

Where’s the money going?

Property taxes are the largest revenue source for the DeKalb school district, which typically makes up the majority of homeowners’ property tax bills.

According to district estimates of homeowners’ property bills, a DeKalb resident whose property was worth $150,000 in 2016 might expect to pay about $440 more on their 2023 property tax bills to the school district compared to their 2022 bill.

Under this scenario, a taxpayer would owe the district a total of $3,804 for their 2023 property taxes compared to a 2022 bill of $3,364, documents show. That’s with a slightly lowered 5.98 property tax rate compared to a rate of 6 in 2022.

The proposal bucks the trend of the district lowering taxpayers’ bills in 2021 and 2022, documents show.

Home values went up this year, according to the DeKalb County Assessor’s office, so the total bill amount could likely be higher for many DeKalb property owners.

Armir Doka, the district’s director of business and finance, said a majority of the district’s new growth comes from Meta’s DeKalb Data Center build on the city’s south side, Wehrli Custom Fabrication, Amazon’s distribution center and Syngenta.

The school board was previously briefed on the district’s property tax levy in October, officials said.

Doka said the district’s administration cannot guarantee that taxpayers won’t see an increase in the district’s portion of their property tax bill.

“Even taking [a] hit on our resources, we still will not be able to go towards [what] you’re asking,” Doka said to the school board.

In March, the district approved a $1.86 million lease-to-purchase agreement with Northern Illinois University as the latest step in a $33 million plan to turn NIU’s former School of Nursing building into a new elementary school. Officials have said a school is needed to help balance enrollment size and student-to-teacher ratios. District staff have said the plan won’t include a referendum.

But Doka said potential savings could come in the form of property tax relief grants through abatement or through applying for property tax relief grants from the state of Illinois with the board’s approval.

The district’s property tax levy works under assumption that the Consumer Price Index, or the rate of inflation, is 6.3%, school board documents show. The Illinois Property Tax Extension Limitation Law limits school districts in DeKalb County to CPI or 5%, whichever is less.

“In the future, there is a lot of things that we have to take into account such as high inflation, labor shortages, our collective bargaining units,” Doka said. “We always look at those fixed costs. A way to mitigate that has been through abatements [and] one-time grants.”

The district, for example, won’t have federal Elementary Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds at its disposal after Sept. 30, 2024, officials said. These are federal funds passed through state educational agencies to aid schools impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Board President Deyci Ramirez said she wants the board to be made aware of the district’s long-term needs.

“I think as we move forward it is important for us to also take into consideration the fact that ESSER funds are going to run out, it is also important for us to take into consideration that we have negotiation of some concerning contracts that we have coming up and to also take into consideration that we are no longer a Tier One District,” Ramirez said.

As a Tier Two District, DeKalb schools will no longer be eligible to receive the maximum allowed funding using the rules afforded by the evidenced-based funding formula after this school year wraps up. The district has been using this aid that is generally meant for school districts with high tax rates relative to other school districts to lower the property tax burden on local taxpayers with the state replacing part of foregone tax revenue.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct that the 2022 comparison was based on a bill of $3,364.