LEVY INFORMATION What is a levy? The amount of money a school - - PDF document

Home of the Indians

PAWNEE COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT #11

810 North Fourth Street, Pawnee, Illinois 62558

Gary M. Alexander Superintendent

Phone: 217-625-2471 x 202 Timothy R. Kratochvil Jennifer A. Loftus Steven L. Kirby

• Jr. High/High School Principal

Grade School Principal Athletic Director Phone: 217-625-2471 x 206 Phone: 217-625-2231 x 201 Phone: 217-625-2471 x 216

LEVY INFORMATION

What is a levy?

• The amount of money a school

district and/or local government (taxing district) determines it needs to operate the district and certifies to be raised from property tax.

• Property tax is calculated based on
• ne-third of the property’s market

value (actual selling price)

• A home that has a market value of

$200,000, for property tax calculation; that home has an assessed value of $66,666.

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LEVY INFORMATION

• Because assessment levels vary

from county to county, a multiplier is applied. This multiplier is then used to establish the Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV)

• The tax levy must be filed the last

Tuesday in December but the county does not determine and release the actual EAV until late March or early April.

• Therefore, when developing the

Levy, the School District can only estimate the EAV based on past history.

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LEVY INFORMATION

• In addition to the EAV being based
• n an estimate there are many
• ther unknown factors: What will

be the farmland reassessment; what is the value of any new construction; what will legal fees be; and how much will salaries paid

• ut of Tort increase?
• The Pawnee School District has 11

areas that are factored into the

• verall tax rate: Education, Building,

Working Cash, Transportation, Bond and Interest, IMRF, Social Security, Tort, Special Education, Lease, and Fire and Safety.

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LEVY INFORMATION

• The Bond and Interest, IMRF, Social

Security, and Tort are unrestricted

• rates. All of other areas are set

rates.

• Since the tax rate is based on the

EAV, if the EAV increases, property taxes decrease. If the EAV decreases, property taxes will increase.

• Because everything is based on the

EAV, school districts do not necessarily receive what they levy (unless they guess correctly on the EAV.)

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LEVY INFORMATION

• If a school district levies for a 4%

increase in the EAV and the actual EAV increases by 7%, the district will

• nly receive the 4% increase it

levied.

• School Districts often put a cushion

in their levy to avoid this possible loss of value opportunity (Remember districts receive taxes based on actual EAV.)

• Districts are required to hold a truth

and taxation hearing if the proposed levy exceeds the previous year’s extension (excluding Bond and Interest) by more than 5%.

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• How did the Pawnee District

determine the 2016 Levy?

• We estimated our EAV to increase by

4.34% and added a cushion of 7% just in case farmland would be reassessed higher or we would have new construction within the district. With this estimation our extension will be 8.055% above last year’s tax revenue and, therefore, requires a hearing.

• The unrestricted funds in the levy of

Tort, IMRF, and Social Security were not increased this year. The Bond and Interest was increased to meet the final Bond payment.

• If our estimated guess of an increase
• f 4.34% (without the added cushion)

is correct the EAV will be $76,290,632 and our rate will be 3.95470, which will generate an additional $89,963.79

Home of the Indians

• Because of the added 7% EAV

increase cushion, which allows for the possibility of additional construction and farmland value, we exceed the previous year’s extension by more than 5%. Therefore, we will hold a truth and taxation hearing on December 21 at 7 p.m.