St. Charles preparing more than $24M levy

St. Charles residents may not see an increase in the city’s portion of their property tax bills as the 2024 levy estimate moves closer to approval.

Members of the St. Charles Government Operations Committee recommended approval of a $24,250,598 preliminary estimate 2024 property tax levy in a split vote at their Oct. 21 meeting.

This would be a 1.7% increase in the total overall operating levy, the smallest increase in the past six years.

As proposed, the levy would not increase tax rates for existing homeowners, pending Kane County’s assessment of equalized assessed value changes, as the increase is expected to be offset by TIF EAV recovery and new development.

The proposed levy will go before the City Council for possible approval at their Nov. 4 meeting and the finalized levy ordinance will be presented for possible final approval at the Dec. 2 City Council meeting after a public hearing held that same evening.

Finance Director Bill Hannah presented the levy recommendation to committee members.

Major factors of the 2024 levy amount were the city’s required contributions to the police and firefighter’s pension funds. The police pension contribution increased .47% over last year to $4,488,229 and the firefighter’s pension contribution increased .49% to $3,004,292.

The recommendation was made in a 5-4 vote with alderpersons Ron Silkaitis, Ryan Bongard, David Pietryla and Bryan Wirball voting no.

Those against the recommendation wanted to have more time to review and discuss the information presented and took issue with not having seen the budget before reviewing the levy.

The city’s current overall property tax rate is $0.8244 per $100 of taxable assessed valuation. Hannah said with this levy it is expected to reduce by about 5%, though final EAV numbers won’t be available until the spring.