Kendall County tax assessor recommends modest cut in tax rate after certified values rise

Tax Assessor-Collector James Hudson presented the appraisal district’s certified values and a recommended tax-rate path to the commissioners on July 30.

Hudson said the gross certified value (before exemptions and senior freezes) rose to $12,426,949,000, an increase of approximately 8.8% from the prior year, driven in part by about $500 million in new improvements. He explained the no-new-revenue rate (the rate that would produce the same revenue on properties taxable in both years) is about 0.374, and the voter-approval (rollback) rate — after accounting for unused levy capacity and debt-service calculations — is higher (0.3959 in his calculation). Hudson recommended a proposed county rate of 0.377, a small reduction from the current 0.3827 rate.

"The values increased in total by about $1,000,000,000," Hudson said, noting the sizable share of that increase was new improvements that do not count against the county’s 3.5% operational growth cap in the same way. He also highlighted that debt-service needs are declining in part because of planned fund‑balance use and maturing tax notes, which lowers the debt portion of the rate and shifts more capacity to the general fund.

Commissioners generally supported the approach of reducing the rate incrementally while using fund balance prudently for planned capital and one-time items. Hudson will submit the formal calculations in an agenda packet for the regular August 12 meeting; the court will publish the required notices and hold the required public hearings on the proposed rate and budget in August as part of the statutory process.

Next steps: Tax assessor will file formal rate calculations and the appraisal-district certification for the August meeting; the court will publish required notices and hold the public hearing before adopting a final rate.