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Politics & Government

Lemont-Bromberek School District 113A Approves 2012 Tax Levy

Levy represents a 9.7 percent increase over previous year.

The Lemont-Bromberek Combined School District 113A Board of Education Tuesday approved the adoption of the final tax levy for calendar year 2012. The levy represents a 9.7 percent increase over the previous year’s levy, according to Barbara Germany, business manager for District 113A.

Corporate and special purposes property taxes extended or abated in 2011 were $17,337,544.

The total proposed levy amount for 2012 is $19,018.539, of which the following amounts are to be levied:

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  • $15,325,000 for educational purposes
  • $1,700,000 for operations and maintenance
  • $1,150,000 for transportation
  • $300,000 for municipal retirement
  • $300,000 for Social Security
  • $243,539 for special education

Patch asked District 113A business manager how an increase in the levy would relate to residents' property taxes.

“The levy is a request for tax funds but does not guarantee an agency will receive the full amount of taxes requested,” Germany explained in response to the email from Patch. “The district has done what is called ‘balloon levy.’ Within the parameters set by School Code, the district will only receive 5 percent above last year’s taxes, or an increase equivalent to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is less. 

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“For the 2012 levy, the increase will be 2.5 percent (CPI),” Germany said. “The additional requested levy increase or ‘balloon levy’ is to capture the payment of taxes for any new property development that might come on the tax rolls.” 

Patch asked: Why is the levy increase necessary? Which funds need to be increased, and why? 

“Local taxes are the primary revenue source to fund district programs and services,” Germany said. “As part of the levy process, each fund is analyzed to determine if the revenue stream is sufficient to meet the expenditure needs.  Based upon this analysis, we establish the levy for the next year. 

“For the 2012 collection year we have reduced our levy in the O/M, [Operations and Maintenance] Social Security and IMRF funds and reassigned these tax revenues to the education and transportation funds,” Germany added. “We have increased the levy request in the Transportation fund, due mainly to reduced state revenue.”

According to Bill Vaselopulos, manager of the Cook County Clerk’s Tax Extension Department, each taxing district is required by law to file its levy on or before the last Tuesday in December. The tax levy represents the amount of revenue each taxing body is requesting to collect from local property taxes.

“The Clerk’s office receives the levies, which are the amount of tax money requested by each jurisdiction, and calculates the tax rates based on state law,” Vaselopulos said.

Portions of District 113A are located in both Cook and DuPage counties.

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