Marseilles council notes lower tax rate, higher assessed values

Despite having a lower tax rate, the 2023-24 tax levy ordinance adopted by the Marseilles City Council on Wednesday night may not necessarily mean lower taxes for the citizenry because of a large increase in home values.

Marseilles Commissioner of Accounts and Finance Bobby Kaminski said the tax rate of $2.3548 per $100 of equalized assessed value will be dropping more than 28 cents to $2.0720 per $100 of EAV.

However, an expected increase of 19.76% in the community’s total property values – from $71,655,447 to $85,813,531 – may negate a drop in tax bills.

The belief is that jump is the result of properties being assessed at a higher value.

“A jump [in EAV] like that is just mind boggling to me,” Kaminski said. “This kills us because as a municipality we didn’t get the chance to recoup this money the last seven or eight years with the property value going up like that. We’re going through the same thing every municipality goes through, so in order to compensate for that, we’ve dropped the rate for city taxes only.

“A 4% or 5% increase is one thing, but 19%, that’s a big jump.”

The levy, which was approved by a 5-0 vote, asks for an extension (including general obligation bonds) of $1,778,084 for the fiscal year, an increase over the $1,687,336 extended a year ago. That’s an increase of 4.99%, the highest the extension is allowed without requiring a truth in taxation public hearing.

The figures without the general obligation bonds is $1,578,084, more than the $1,503,024 extended for the previous year.