Tim Bagby, County Board Member | DeKalb County
Tim Bagby, County Board Member | DeKalb County
DeKalb County Forest Preserve Operations Committee met Nov. 30.
Here is the agenda provided by the committee:
1. Roll Call
2. Approval of Agenda
3. Approval of Minutes
a. Minutes from October 26, 2023
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. Public Hearing
A Public Hearing to obtain public comment and consider the proposed property tax levy and Fiscal Year 2024 Budget for the DeKalb County Forest Preserve District. Detailed information regarding the proposed property tax levy can be found in Ordinance FP-O2023-01. The full proposed FY24 budget document can be found on the County’s website at: https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/reso-fp-2023-011.pdf 6. Ordinances
a. Ordinance FP-O2023-01—An Ordinance of the DeKalb County Forest Preserve District Providing for a Tax Levy 2023 for FY2024.
The Forest Preserve District’s annual property tax levy must be adopted by the end of the calendar year. DeKalb County Forest Preserve District’s 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 2023-24 extensions, the County’s cap has been established at 5%.
It is recommended for the 2023-24 levy year that the Forest Preserve District does not levy to the cap and rather only pick-up equalized assessed valuation (EAV) that is the result of new construction while working to reduce the tax burden on existing taxpayers.
The starting point when considering the property tax levy is to understand the Forest Preserve District’s equalized assessed valuation (EAV) for the coming year. Estimated EAV figures are still not finalized, however the figures are coming together and can provide an idea of what the District’s levy will mean to property taxpayers. The District’s final rate setting EAV in 2022-
23 was $2,653,858,975. An overall assessment factor of approximately 6.04% 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, estimates for the County’s EAV for 2023-24 is $2,948,122,624 (+11.09%), which includes $133,970,567 in estimated new construction.
With the average existing property values expected to increase by 6.04%, the starting point for setting the levy aims at reducing the rate above that rate. The rate reduction ends up beginning 7% (from 0.069150 to 0.064313). When the rate reduction exceeds the increase in property value, the result is less taxes paid to the County. That rate is then applied to new construction, which is where new dollars are generated to support County services.
The table below outlines last year’s levy and the proposed 2023-24 levy:
| 2022-23 | 2023-24 | |||
| Total | Existing | New | Total | |
| Forest Preserve Levy | 1,835,143 | 1,809,866 | 86,160 | 1,896,026 |
| Percent Change Levy | - | - | - | 3.32% |
| EAV | $2,653,858,975 | $2,814,152,057 | $133,970,567 | $2,948,122,624 |
| Percent Change EAV | - | 6.04% | 4.72% | 11.09% |
| Rate | 0.06915 | 0.064313 | 0.064313 | 0.064313 |
The proposed levy would see an increase in the average EAV of 6.04% for existing tax payers and 4.72% of new EAV. The Forest Preserve District tax rate is expected to decrease by 7% to 0.064313. Since the actual EAV for 2023-24 will not be known until the final tax extension is published next spring, the actual Forest Preserve District tax rate, determined by dividing the District’s levy by the EAV, will be uncertain. If the actual EAV published next spring is not as high as the projected level, the final Forest Preserve District 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 by roughly the same percentage. Property owners should see their portion of the tax bill going to the Forest Preserve District decrease slightly in 2024 from where it was in 2023. The chart below shows the estimated change in the Forest Preserve District tax bill for a $200,000 home in 2022 (payable in 2023) and the same home in 2023 (payable in 2024) which is now valued at an estimated $212,080 based on the average increase in EAV (6.04%):
| 2022-23 | 2023-24 | |
| Market Value | 200,000 | 212,080 |
| Property EAV (1/3) | 66,667 | 70,693 |
| Forest Preserve Tax Rate | 0.06915 | 0.064313 |
| Forest Preserve Tax Bill | $46.10 | $45.46 |
| Difference | ($0.64) |
| 2022-23
Levy | Percentage | 2023-24
Levy | Percentage | |
| General | 1,516,000 | 82.57% | 1,576,000 | 83.12% |
| Tort & Liability | 262,000 | 14.27% | 262,000 | 13.82% |
| IMRF | 6,000 | 0.33% | 6,000 | 0.32% |
| FICA | 52,000 | 2.83% | 52,000 | 2.74% |
| Total | 1,836,000 | 100.00% | 1,896,000 | 100.00% |
FP-O2023-01 establishes the property tax levies for property tax year 2023, to be collected in FY2024.
b. Ordinance FP-O2023-02—An Ordinance of the DeKalb County Forest Preserve District Providing an Annual Appropriation.
This Ordinance establishes the annual appropriation and budget for the FY2024 budget year.
7. Resolutions
a. Resolution FP-R2023-015—A Resolution to Include the G2K Trail Schelkopf Easement Access and Tile Maintenance.
As part of the recently approved acquisition of property in Kingston Township for the Genoa to Kingston Trail (G2K Trail), this Resolution approves an Easement Access and Tile Maintenance Agreement for the property.
8. Old Business
9. New Business
10. Adjournment
https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/packet-fp-11302023.pdf
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