DeKalb Times

City of Dekalb City Council will meet April 1.

Here is the agenda provided by the council:

Notice of a Special Meeting of the City of DeKalb City Council for April 1, 2024, at 5:00 p.m., called pursuant to Chapter 2 "City Council", Section 2.05 "Special Meetings", of the Municipal Code of the City of DeKalb, Illinois. 

Pursuant to Chapter 2 “City Council”, Section 2.04 “Council Meetings”, persons wishing to address the City Council during this meeting are required to register with the Recording Secretary before the start of the meeting by completing a Speaker Request form. All public comments will be limited to three (3) minutes per speaker. Further information for addressing the City Council can be found on the Speaker Request form. 

A. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 

B. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA 

C. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 

D. ORDINANCES – FIRST READING 

1. Ordinance 2024-019 Abating and Amending the 2023 Levy and 2024 Collection of Taxes in and for the Corporate and Municipal Purposes and Special Service Areas of the City of DeKalb for Fiscal Year 2024. 

City Manager’s Summary: The Council considered Ordinance 2023-052 on First Reading on November 13, 2023, and approved the ordinance on Second Reading on November 27, 2023. Since that time, and after a record number of property tax appeals, the final levy, rate, and extension report for the City of DeKalb published by the Office of the County Clerk and Recorder has revealed an actual 2023 EAV for the City of DeKalb with implications for the out-of-pocket taxes paid by DeKalb’s residents and businesses.

Specifically, the differences are illustrated in the table below:

City Levy (Excludes Library)
	Approved 11/27/2023	Final County Report	Proposed City Revision
EAV	$998,000,000	$952,383,378	$952,383,378
City Fire Pension	$4,415,632	$4,415,632	$4,215,632
City Police Pension	$3,707,827	$3,707,827	$3,507,827
Total City Levy	$8,123,459	$8,123,459	$7,723,459
Resulting Rate	0.81397	0.85296	0.81096

If the Council does not revise the City levy for 2023 (payable in 2024), the impact on the average homeowner is illustrated in the following table:

Comparative Tax Impacts by EAV: Single-Family Detached Dwelling
Year		Base EAV Equalization	New EAV	Homestead	Final EAV	DeKalb Rate	DeKalb Tax
2019	$97,906	1.0351	$101,343	($6,000)	$95,343	1.0704	$1,020.55
2020	$101,343	1.0409	$105,488	($6,000)	$99,488	1.06868	$1,063.21
2021	$105,488	1.0162	$107,197	($6,000)	$101,197	0.98612	$997.92
2022	$107,197	1.0662	$114,293	($6,000)	$108,293	0.89599	$970.30
2023	$114,293	1.0953	$125,185	($6,000)	$119,185	See Below	See Below
November 2023 estimate based on City EAV of $998,000,000:						0.81397	$970.13
Actual based on EAV of $952,383,378 and City levy of $8,123,459:						0.85296	$1,016.60
Actual based on EAV of $952,383,378 and revised City levy of $7,723,459:						0.81096	$966.54

The City Manager recommends a revised City aggregate levy – including a pass through amount ($3,387,911) for DeKalb Public Library operations – as noted in the table below: 

2023 Aggregate & Special Purpose Levies	2023 Tax Levy Extensions ($)	2022 Tax  Levy After  Abatements ($)	Increase / Decrease Over Prior Year’s Extension ($)	Increase / Decrease Over Prior Year’s Extension  (%)
Corporate	$0	$0	$0	0.00%
IMRF	$0	$0	$0	0.00%
Social Security	$0	$0	$0	0.00%
Fire Pension	$4,215,632	$3,869,713	$345,919	8.94%
Police Pension	$3,507,827	$3,249,417	$258,410	7.95%
Public Library (pass-through)	$3,387,911	$2,975,905	$412,006	13.85%
Total Aggregate & Special Purpose Levy	$11,111,370	$10,095,035	$1,016,334	10.07%

Based on a final rate-setting EAV of $952,383,378, this levy should result in a 2023 City tax rate of 0.81096, a 9.49% decrease from the 2022 City rate of 0.89599. If unchanged, the Library’s tax rate for 2023 would be 0.35573, which is 5.02% lower than the 2022 rate of 0.37454. The combined City and Library tax rate is projected to be 1.16669, which would be 8.17% lower in total than the 2022 combined rate of 1.27052. Despite the overall tax levy increasing, the rate is expected to decrease due to the estimated 20% increase in the community EAV (from $794,561,930 to $952,383,378 = +$157,821,448).

As determined in November 2023, the City will also levy for six Special Service Areas (SSA). SSA #29 was activated in April 2020 to fund road repairs in the Market Square Shopping Center. SSA #30 was activated in December 2020 to fund public safety and security improvements at Hunter Ridgebrook. The SSAs are detailed in the following table:

Estimated Tax Levy	2023 Tax Levy Extensions ($)	2022 Tax Levy Extensions ($)	Increase / Decrease Over Prior Year's Extension  ($)	Increase / Decrease Over Prior Year's Extension  (%)
Special Service Area Levies
SSA #3 - Heritage Ridge	$1,000	$1,000	$0	0.00%
SSA #4 – Knolls	$5,500	$5,500	$0	0.00%
SSA #6 - Greek Row	$12,000	$12,000	$0	0.00%
SSA #14 - Heartland Fields	$2,000	$2,000	$0	0.00%
SSA #29 - Market Square	$50,000	$50,000	$0	0.00%
SSA #30 - Hunter Ridgebrook	$50,000	$50,000	$0	0.00%
Total Special Service Area Levies	$120,500	$120,500	$0	0.00%

The City is also required to levy for the principal and interest of bonds issued by the municipality. It is the City’s standard practice to abate all debt service levies immediately after their adoption, except for debt related to the 2013 Library expansion project. For the 2023 levy year, the debt service payment ($471,409) for the Library debt will be paid from General Fund revenues, as in the 2022 levy year, to hold the City tax rate down.

The amended levy will not change the City’s commitment to meet its fiduciary responsibilities regarding Fire and Police pension obligations. The entirety of these obligations will be paid from the lower levy plus additional General Fund revenues as in previous years.

The opportunity to lower the tax impact on DeKalb residents expires after final City computation reports are due on April 4. City Council approval on First and Second Reading is recommended. 

E. ADJOURNMENT

https://www.cityofdekalb.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_04012024-2505