St. Charles CUSD 303 staff previews 2025 tentative tax levy, cites CPI cap and EAV growth
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Summary
St. Charles CUSD 303 staff presented the district's 2025 tentative property-tax levy to the Business Services Committee on Oct. 27, emphasizing the request funds the budget already approved and explaining how Illinois's tax-cap rules and local assessed-value estimates shape the request.
St. Charles CUSD 303 staff presented the district's 2025 tentative property-tax levy to the Business Services Committee on Oct. 27, emphasizing that the levy is a request for revenue to fund the budget the board already approved and not a vote to raise tax rates. The district's presenter said state law (the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law, PTEL) limits new revenue from existing property to the lesser of 5% or the Consumer Price Index.
The presenter said the district is using conservative, slightly overestimated assumptions so that newly completed construction and late additions to taxable property are captured rather than lost permanently. Staff estimated the district's prior-year equalized assessed value (EAV) at about $4.4 billion, up roughly 6% from $4.1 billion in levy year 2024, and estimated new property of about $61 million that includes a $10 million cushion for late or newly finished construction.
Under the tax-cap rule, staff said, the CPI factor for the 2025 levy is 2.9% (down from 3.4% used in the 2024 levy). Using those inputs, staff described an "ask" example that would increase the district's total extension request from about $200 million in levy year 2024 to $212 million for levy year 2025, and said the district currently expects to collect roughly $208 million under county estimates; in the scenarios presented the overall district tax rate could decrease to about 4.69 per $100 of assessed value because assessed valuation growth outpaced the levy increase.
Staff stressed process and timing: the tentative levy presented Oct. 27 will be placed on public display; the board will hold a public hearing in December and adopt a final levy after the counties certify equalized assessed values in the spring. The presenter also noted each levy effectively funds half of two fiscal years, so the levy and the budget are linked across fiscal periods.
Committee members asked about the relationship between debt-service levies and the PTEL cap; staff clarified that amounts the county levies to pay bond principal and interest are collected separately by the county and are not counted toward the PTEL increase calculation.
The committee agreed to place the tentative-levy resolution and public-notice steps on the Nov. 10 agenda for action by the full board.
