DeKalb Times

DeKalb County Finance & Administration Committee met Nov. 6.

Here is the agenda provided by the committee:

1. Roll Call 

2. Approval of Agenda 

3. Approval of Minutes 

a. Minutes from October 2nd, 2024 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 

a. DCRNC Financial Update

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 O2024-12. The full proposed FY25 budget document can be found on the County’s website at:

https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/FY2025-Budget-Recommendation-11012024.pdf 7. Ordinances 

a. Ordinance O2024-13—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 2024-25 extensions, the County’s cap has been established at 3.4%.

It is recommended for the 2024-25 levy year that the County 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 County’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 County’s levy will mean to property taxpayers. DeKalb County’s final rate setting EAV in 2023-24 was $2,971,473,323. An overall assessment factor of approximately 10% 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 2024-25 is $3,490,282,770 (+17.46%), which includes $221,662,105 in estimated new construction.

With the average existing property values expected to increase by 10%, the starting point for setting the levy aims at reducing the rate to achieve a slight reduction, (from 0.89979 to 0.80802). 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 2024-25 levy:

	2023-24	2024-25
	Total	Existing	New	Total
County Levy	26,737,000	26,411,109	1,791,074	28,202,218
Percent Change Levy	-	-	-	5.48%
EAV	$2,971,473,323	$3,268,620,655	$221,662,105	$3,490,282,770
Percent Change EAV	-	10.00%	7.46%	17.46%
Rate	0.89979	0.80802	0.80802	0.80802

The proposed levy would see an increase in the average EAV of 10% for existing tax payers and 7.46% of new EAV attributed to new construction. The County’s tax rate is expected to decrease to $0.80802. Since the actual EAV for 2024-25 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, resulting in a slight savings on the County portion of the tax bill. The chart below shows the estimated change in the County tax bill for a $200,000 home in 2023 (payable in 2024) and the same home in 2024 (payable in 2025) which is now valued at an estimated $220,000 based on the average increase in EAV (10%):

	2023-24	2024-25
Market Value	200,000	220,000
Property EAV (1/3)	66,667	73,333
County Tax Rate	0.89979	0.80802
County Tax Bill	$599.86	$592.55
Difference		($7.31)

The chart below shows the 2023-24 and proposed 2024-25 levy with a redistribution of the individual levies within the total aggregate amount:

Finance & Administration Committee Page 2 of 4

	2023-24 Levy	Percentage	2024-25 Levy	Percentage
General	18,102,522	67.71%	19,220,000	68.15%
FICA	10,000	0.04%	10,000	0.04%
IMRF	10,000	0.04%	10,000	0.04%
Tort & Liability	10,000	0.04%	10,000	0.04%
PBC Lease	129,586	0.48%	130,957	0.46%
Highway	3,870,210	14.48%	3,986,314	14.13%
Health	444,914	1.66%	467,100	1.66%
Senior Services	479,992	1.80%	503,992	1.79%
Veterans Assistance	577,858	2.16%	606,751	2.15%
Mental Health	3,101,918	11.60%	3,257,104	11.55%
Total	26,737,000	100.00%	28,202,218	100.00%

*$500,000 from the General Fund will be transferred to the 2017 Alternative Revenue Bond Fund as part of the FY2025 Property Tax & Debt Stabilization Plan in FY2025. 

O2024-13 establishes the property tax levies for property tax year 2024, to be collected in FY2025.

b. Ordinance O2024-14—An Ordinance Establishing the Annual Appropriation and Budget. This Ordinance establishes the annual appropriation and budget for the FY2025 budget year. 8. Resolutions 

a. Resolution R2024-123—A Resolution Approving the Payment of County Claims for November 2024, and Off-Cycle Claims Paid During the Previous Month, Including All Claims for Travel, Meals, and Lodging. 

9. Considerations 

a. Consideration County Courthouse Space Plan Study Proposal from Dewberry Architects Inc.

In late 2009, the County began the preliminary work for the expansion of the DeKalb County Courthouse. As part of this process, a contract for Architectural Services for the project was awarded to Dewberry Architects Inc. By 2011, the County had begun construction on the project. In June of 2020, construction on the expansion project was stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it is anticipated that construction will be resumed in 2026. Due to the length of time that has passed since the original floor plan for the expansion was created, as well as changes in the personnel and needs of the departments housed within the building, staff believes it to be necessary to reevaluate the plan prior to construction being resumed.

Staff has reengaged with Dewberry Architects Inc and sought a proposal for a County Courthouse Space Plan Study due to their familiarity with the project and the prohibitive costs associated with engaging a new architectural firm. Dewberry has submitted a proposal that would provide the County with a revised floor plan that reflects the current needs of the building, as well as create an updated cost estimate for the project. The cost of the work covered under the proposal amounts to a fixed sum of $10,000 and includes a schedule for the hourly billing rates for additional work that may be requested that is not covered under the scope of the proposal.

This item was considered as an action item by the Facilities & Technology Committee at their October 1st meeting. The Committee tabled the item and asked staff to revise the proposal. The revised proposal is being brought to Finance & Administration Committee for consideration and will be considered as an action item by the Facilities & Technology Committee on November 12th.

b. Consideration of Voluntary Action Center Vehicles 

In February of 2024, the County Board approved Resolution R2024-019, which authorized the procurement of four para-transit vehicles through the IDOT Consolidated Vehicle Procurement Program for use by the Voluntary Action Center. This included the purchase of two light duty and two medium duty vehicles. These vehicles are to be paid for utilizing an IDOT reimbursement grant.

At this time, the medium duty vehicles are ready to be picked up from the manufacturer with $240,088 due prior to the vehicles being picked up. Because the vehicles are to be paid for utilizing reimbursement grant funds, the County will need to need to pay for the vehicles before being reimbursed. The Transportation Grant Fund is a grant pass-thru fund, and does not hold a large enough fund balance to cover the cost of these two transit vehicles.

Staff is asking for the consensus of the Finance & Administration Committee to utilize General Fund Reserves to purchase the vehicles, which will be reimbursed through the grant for the two medium duty vehicles, as well as for the two light duty vehicles when they become available.

10. Old Business 

11. New Business 

12. Adjournment 

https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/packet-fin-11062024.pdf