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Zion council debates using state seizure funds to lower city levy, weighing long-term trade-offs
Summary
At a Dec. 3 public hearing, Administrator Navell told the Zion City Council PTELL limits allow a 3.4% increase this year; staff outlined options to either max the levy or use roughly $1 million of state seizure (CJA) funds to reduce the city's portion now, a move that would lower residents' bills short-term but reduce future annual revenue.
ZION, Ill.
The Zion City Council held a public hearing Dec. 3 on the city's property tax levy and heard a staff presentation on options for responding to recent changes in property values and a one-time state disbursement of seizure/CJA funds. Administrator David Navell laid out the choice plainly: the city can levy to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) maximum this year and preserve the higher base for future PTELL compounding, or reduce the levy now by using roughly $1 million of state seizure funds and accept a lower recurring revenue base.
Navell said the PTELL cap this year is 3.4 percent. "Our extension last year was about $8,700,000; we could go up to about $9,168,000," he told the council. He estimated that under a full-max levy scenario a $200,000 home would see roughly a $60-per-year increase in the city's portion of property taxes. By contrast, Navell said, applying about $1 million of the city's $1.5 million in CJA disbursements to reduce the levy could yield an $80 annual decrease on a $200,000 home compared with the full-max scenario, but would reduce the city's recurring revenue by roughly $400,000 each subsequent year.
Why the trade-off matters: PTELL bases each year's allowable percentage increase on a three-year high for the extension. Navell explained that lowering the levy now would lower the city's base for future percentage increases and "you kinda lose that compounding increase in perpetuity over time." He said the administration is open to taking that risk for one year to pass on relief, but emphasized uncertainty about state disbursement timing and amounts.
Council members asked detailed questions about mechanics and alternatives. Commissioners probed whether the city could levy now and later abate part of the levy if receipt of seizure funds made that desirable; Navell said abatements can be used but do not fully avoid the long-term effect on PTELL's three-year extension calculations. The presentation also flagged pension funding pressures: staff said the police and fire pension minimums rose by roughly $288,000 and $228,000 respectively, adding more pressure on operating budgets.
A member of the public, identified during the hearing as Bremner, asked whether other taxing bodies are subject to the same PTELL limits; staff answered that the PTELL cap and individual funding caps apply to other taxing bodies as well. Navell noted the city received $1.5 million in September (the payment related to July 2023 disbursements) and that the state has released a second round of funding the city has applied for, but cautioned that future funding is not guaranteed.
Next steps: the council kept the hearing open for discussion and asked staff to prepare levy language for the Dec. 17 meeting, when the council intends to take final action. Navell said staff will prepare levy options to bring back to council so members can weigh short-term tax relief against the long-term revenue implications.
Quotes and attributions in this story come from the Dec. 3 council hearing and the council's staff presentation.
