The 2012 District 65 tax levy is set by the local school board at end end of 2012 and is reflected in the two tax bills sent to District 65 real estate owners.  The first must be paid by June 6, 2013 and the second must be paid by September 6, 2013.   As monies are collected by the County Treasurer, they are forwarded to District 65.

At the COTW (Committee of the Whole) meeting in November, 2012, the District 65 School Board members established the amount of the levy they would formally adopt at their November and December regular meetings.  They set $12.953 million, shown as the top number in the list below:

2012   12,953,000

2011   16,131,010

2010   15,811,881

2009   15,396,794

2008   15,688,426

2007   14,935,787

2006   13,708,562

2005   12,698,348

2004   11,722,681

2003   10,914,212

2002   10,127,453

As I have highlighted by the spacing above, you can see that the current levy of some $13 million is the lowest in seven years.  This level was set because the district had many millions of dollars sitting idle.  The district correctly taxes for its legitimate and specific needs, but those millions represent excess taxes of previous years.

In neutral language, those idle millions represent past budget surpluses:  Years when the levy amount exceeded the district's spending.  This year the board is collecting less tax money than it plans to spend.  That difference is, in what ought to be a neutral term, "deficit spending".  But they are not financing their deficit with borrowing, like the federal government does.  That difference represents the current spending of past surpluses.

This is just.  Taxpayers had more money taken from them than the district really needed in recent past years and so this year taxpayers will have a little less taken.  And the rate will decrease too.  The tax rate is the ratio of the levy to the assessed value of the real estate taxed.  The assessed value of real estate in the district declined to 95 percent of what it was a year ago, but the levy decreased by more.

This is an email I received:

From: DaveMc
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2012 12:32 PM
To: Lake Bluff Taxpayers
Subject: Lake Bluff SD65 Tax Reduction -- Please forward to interested friends & neighbors

To: Lake Bluff School District Taxpayers

This is a brief message to make you aware that the SD65 Board voted 7 - 0 this week to approve a resolution reducing the school tax levy for next year, by slightly more than $3 million, compared to the district 2012 tax levy.

This reflects a partial funding of the 2013 budget, including a $1.2 million debt service payment, from reserves which have reached the level of $15.5 million. The net result is a tax bill for all Lake Bluff property owners which should be 15.5% less than 2012, for the SD65 line items. For an "average" property with an Equalized Tax Value of $225,000, the $ reduction should be approximately $875.00. You may wish to check your own tax bill for the current year for the impact on your property tax. The new rate is expected to be $2.120, vs. $2.508 this year.

This has come about as a result of greater citizen awareness of the level of reserves, and the escalation of school operating expenses relative to enrollment declines in recent years. The board has listened carefully to the concerns of the public, and acted responsibly in this matter. Superintendent Jean Sophie was very instrumental in assisting the board in reaching this conclusion, and Business Manager Jane Lair provided a range of fiscal options for board consideration.

There should be no reason for concern among parents regarding adequate funding for delivery of quality education services for our children.

Many of you have actively participated in the public process to achieve this result, and we thank you for your messages to the board, and visible presence and participation in public meetings in this regard. We believe all of this was done in a responsible and respectful manner, and that Lake Bluff as a community can be proud of what has been accomplished openly and fairly, through public involvement in the process.

To be sure, work remains to be done in achieving an ongoing cost structure for SD65, commensurate with other similar school districts. Thank you again for your support and participation in this effort.

Sincerely,
Concerned Lake Bluff Taxpayers

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