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ETHS holds public hearing on 2025 tax levy; district explains 'balloon' levy to capture new property
Summary
At a Nov. 10 public hearing, district finance staff explained the proposed 2025 tax levy process, the 2.9% CPI tax‑cap constraint, use of a ‘balloon’ levy to capture new property growth, and an illustrative $31 portion of an increase on a $459,000 home attributable to District 202.
Evanston Township High School District 202 opened its public hearing on the 2025 tax levy during the Nov. 10 Board of Education meeting to explain levy mechanics and the district’s plan to submit an aggregate levy that could exceed the prior year’s cap by up to 3.6% before county adjustments.
Miss Williams (district finance presenter) told the board that the levy is the district’s request and that the extension the district actually receives is limited by tax caps — the lesser of prior‑year CPI or 5%, which this year is 2.9%. “So when we levy, it is based on the prior year's extension... and that blended rate, you know, you saw on the chart before that the CPI being used is decreasing,” she said.
Because the district does not yet know final inputs such as the value of new property when it files the levy in December, staff explained the common practice of filing a higher “balloon” levy so the district does not risk leaving potential revenue on the table if new property values are larger than anticipated. “We will propose a levy increase that is higher than the tax cap rate in order to capture any of the new property,” Miss Williams said.
As an example, Williams calculated the impact on a typical single‑family home valued at $459,000 and said that ETHS is roughly 25% of the property tax bill; on the hypothetical increase the district’s share would be about $31. Board members asked for clarification about timing after Cook County delayed second‑installment tax bills, and Williams said the county expects to send invoices and she did not anticipate the first installment being delayed further.
Board members also asked whether the district files a separate levy line for special education; Williams confirmed a separate special‑education levy line is prepared and that levy reporting may look different than the budget line items. Timeline reminders included a board adoption target of 12/08/2025 and the Cook County filing deadline of 12/31/2025.
No public testimony was offered during the hearing and the board closed the public hearing with the record that staff will bring a levy adoption resolution to the Dec. 8 meeting for board action.
Quotes in this article come from the district presenter during the Nov. 10 public hearing; the example homeowner impact and the calendar dates were presented by finance staff and recorded in the meeting transcript.
