DeKalb County Finance & Administration Committee met Dec. 3

DeKalb County Finance & Administration Committee met Dec. 3.

Here is the agenda provided by the committee:

1. Roll Call 

2. Approval of Agenda 

3. Approval of Minutes 

a. Minutes from October 1, 2025 Meeting

b. Minutes from November 5, 2025 Meeting

4. Public Comments 

Any member of the public may address the Committee for up to 3 minutes on any topic of their choosing. There will be no yielding of time to other members of the public and agenda time for public comments is limited to 30 minutes in total.

5. Presentations/Discussions 

6. Public Hearing 

A Public Hearing to obtain public comment and consider the proposed property tax levy and Fiscal Year 2025 Budget for the DeKalb County Government. Detailed information regarding the proposed property tax levy can be found in Ordinance O2025-22. The full proposed FY26 budget document can be found on the County’s website at: https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/FY2026-Budget Recommendation-10152025.pdf

7. Ordinances 

a. Ordinance O2025-22—An Ordinance of the County of DeKalb Providing for Tax Levies. 

The County’s annual property tax levy must be adopted by the end of the calendar year. DeKalb County is subject to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), commonly referred to as “tax caps”. PTELL restricts extension limitation for the year to the lesser of 5% or the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index during the twelve-month calendar year preceding the levy year. For 2025-26 extensions, the County’s cap has been established at 2.96%.

It is recommended for the 2025-26 levy year that the County does not levy to the cap and rather reduce the tax rate so on average existing property owners would pay the same property tax for the County portion of their tax bill than they did the previous year.

The starting point when considering the property tax levy is to understand the County’s equalized assessed valuation (EAV) for the coming year. EAV figures are estimates and will not be finalized until 2026, however, these figures can provide an idea of what the County’s levy will mean to property taxpayers. DeKalb County’s final rate setting EAV in 2024-25 was $3,581,521,074. An overall assessment factor of approximately 9% has been applied to properties within DeKalb County unless they were individually re-assessed by their respective Township Assessor. Based on the best information available to the County Supervisor of Assessments as of September 30, 2025, estimates for the County’s EAV for 2025-26 is $4,188,865,562 (+16.96%), which includes $299,458,088 in new construction and does not include approximately $300,000,000 in new enterprise zone abatements.

With the average existing property values projected to increase by approximately 9%, the starting point for setting the levy aims at reducing the tax rate from 0.787438 to 0.72520, to achieve a slight reduction for taxpayers. That rate when applied to the increase in EAV is where new dollars are generated to support the County’s services.

The table below outlines last year’s levy and the proposed 2025-26 levy:

The proposed levy would see an increase in the average EAV of 8.58%. The County’s tax rate is expected to decrease by 7.90%, from $0.78744 to $0.72520. Since the actual EAV for 2025-26 will not be known until the final tax extension is published next spring, the actual County tax rate, determined by dividing the County levy by the EAV, will be uncertain. If the actual EAV published next spring is not as high as the projected level, the final County rate may be slightly higher than expectations discussed below.

The proposed levy would mean that, on average, existing property owners would expect to see their property values increase and their rate decrease. Property owners should see their portion of the tax bill going to the County remain steady or decrease slightly in 2025 from where it was in 2024. The chart below shows the estimated change in the County tax bill for a $200,000 home in 2024 (payable in 2025) and the same home in 2025 (payable in 2026) which is now valued at an estimated $217,160 based on the average increase in EAV (8.58%). The chart below also assumes abating the $206,000 collected from Tort and Liability Funds for the upcoming year.

The chart below shows the 2024-25 and proposed 2025-26 levy with a redistribution of the individual levies within the total aggregate amount:

O2025-22 establishes the property tax levies for property tax year 2025, to be collected in FY2026. Of note the County Board recommends abating the additional $206,000 of Tort and Liability Funds Levied in FY2026 and drawing down an equal amount from the Tort and Liability Fund to balance the budget.

b. Ordinance O2025-23—An Ordinance Establishing the Annual Appropriation and Budget. This Ordinance establishes the annual appropriation and budget for the FY2026 budget year.

8. Resolutions 

a. Resolution R2025-101—A Resolution Approving the Payment of County Claims for December 2025, and Off-Cycle Claims Paid During the Previous Month, Including All Claims for Travel, Meals, and Lodging in the amount of ______. 

b. Resolution R2025-102—A Resolution Approving Amendments to the FY2025 Budget. 

Resolution R2025-102 amends the FY2025 Budget for the General Fund, Alt Revenue Bonds 2017, Courthouse Expansion Fund, DCRNC Debt Service Fund and Tort and Liability Fund.

These amendments address the end of year transfers that the County Board has directed staff to bring forward by assigning FY2025 monies towards debt services as the budget document approved in 2024 indicated.

9. Old Business 

10. New Business 

11. Adjournment

https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/packet-fin-12022025.pdf