The proponents of a referendum to increase the property tax rate in District 100 have been posting on Facebook a survey. They would like as many people as possible to fill out the survey (it is very short). Here is a link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HR6XDLF (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HR6XDLF)
Some information about the numbers in the survey - The $160 increase per $100,000 of assessed value is for someone with no home owner's exemption. If someone has a home owner's exemption, the amount is $118 increase per $100,000 of assessed value. Another way to gauge the increase on someone's house is as an increase on the current property taxes. If you pay $4,000 in property taxes, the proposed referendum would increase your taxes by around $150. If you pay $5,000 in property taxes, the proposed referendum would increase your taxes by $188. If you pay $6,000 in property taxes, the proposed referendum would increase your taxes by around $225. The referendum would increase your taxes by approximately $37.66 for every $1,000 in property taxes paid.
Is there anywhere I can find out what this money will be used for or are we just giving the board a blank check?I hate to bother you but you seem to have much knowledge of these issues.When I was younger I just voted for the schools,I am concerned as many are where the money is going to be used.
Quote from: berwyn senator on January 28, 2017, 11:48:20 AM
Is there anywhere I can find out what this money will be used for or are we just giving the board a blank check?I hate to bother you but you seem to have much knowledge of these issues.When I was younger I just voted for the schools,I am concerned as many are where the money is going to be used.
The district has been running a deficit for the last several years and they are running out of money in the reserve funds. The tax increase is what the board considers to be the minimal amount needed to address the deficit problem.
Several points here - First, the state of Illinois has made cutbacks in the amount of funding that districts get from the state. Since D100 is more dependent on state funding than more affluent districts, the cutbacks made a larger dent in the revenue needed to run the district.
Second, a few years ago, the state of Illinois changed the funding formula for extra money. Extra money used to go to district based on the number of low income children. That changed (in 2014 I believe) from number of low income students to number of students at poverty level (I think). That affected funding in D100 as well.
Third, the enrollments in D100 have increased by about 10%, mainly due to providing pre-K education for at-risk 3 year olds and 4-year olds. For example, in 2014, the number of pre-K students in the district was 200. In the last 2 years, the district has cut back on the pre-K program because of budget deficits. The other part of the enrollment increase is due to newer and younger families moving into Berwyn over the last decade.
Another point of comparison - D98 has had a balanced budget for most of the past decade but D98 has a higher tax rate. The referendum would bring the D100 base tax rate to be a tiny bit higher than D98's (by 6 cents). D98 also gets $1500 more per pupil from the state than D100.
If D100 had had the same tax rate as D98 and had the same state funding level as D98, it would have had had a $6 million dollar surplus rather than a deficit in the low millions of dollars.
One more point - D100 is exceeding its debt limit and people in D100 are paying property taxes to pay off that debt. Last year, the district issued new bonds that exceeded the debt limit (which is allowed under Illinois law). The only way to have prevented that would have been for someone to try to collect enough signatures to force the new bond to referendum.
That is another difference - D98 residents do not pay any property taxes to pay off debt while D100 residents pay a large portion of their property taxes to pay off the debt. The new taxes proposed by the referendum would be on top of that.
I have nothing against the children or schools,I appreciate your knowledge and input. I wonder if this is a good time to ask for a tax increase ?
Quote from: berwyn senator on January 28, 2017, 06:03:43 PM
I have nothing against the children or schools,I appreciate your knowledge and input. I wonder if this is a good time to ask for a tax increase ?
When would be a good time to ask for a tax increase? Lay out the scenario for me.
Quote from: berwyn senator on January 28, 2017, 06:03:43 PM
I have nothing against the children or schools,I appreciate your knowledge and input. I wonder if this is a good time to ask for a tax increase ?
Since the reserve funds have been depleted and since it does not look like the state is going to go back to its previous funding levels, I think this tax rate increase is necessary and is affordable to most people in this community.
One way or another, you are going to pay for it - either by a tax rate increase via referendum or by the district continuing to issue Working Cash bonds that exceed the debt limit (which you then have to pay taxes to pay off - with interest).
Last fall, the D100 board was told by its financial officers that they would not have enough money in the reserve funds to pay the bills in January of 2017. The board then issued a working cash bond to shore up the reserve funds. You, as a tax payer, are now paying extra taxes to pay off that bond - both principle and interest.
If the referendum fails, then the board will probably continue to issue working cash bonds to pay the bill and that will cost you MORE than the tax rate increase in the referendum because you would then be paying taxes for both the principle and the interest.
In other words, passing the tax rate referendum will be CHEAPER for you because you will not have to pay taxes to pay off the interest on any future debt. The only way to stop the board from continuing to issue more debt would be to either pass the referendum or get signatures on a petition to put any future bonds to referendum - something which would take a lot of time and effort within a 30 day period.
In short, voting for the referendum will probably cost you less in the long run than allowing the board to continue to issue debt.
I again might say thank you for the information and your efforts,I hope the board is making all this clear to the residents. More questions if you don't mind will this stop the bleeding or will there be more bonds issued in the future.Will this tax increase pay off present debt? I hope the residents are reading this conversation as I find this very informative.
Quote from: berwyn senator on January 29, 2017, 12:50:59 PM
I again might say thank you for the information and your efforts,I hope the board is making all this clear to the residents. More questions if you don't mind will this stop the bleeding or will there be more bonds issued in the future.Will this tax increase pay off present debt? I hope the residents are reading this conversation as I find this very informative.
No, I do not think the board will use the tax increase to pay off the current debt. You are already paying property taxes to pay off the current debt. It is a possibility that the board could use the tax increase to pay the current debt but I doubt the board will do it.
I also doubt the board will present this argument to the voters. They tend to be focused on the kids and what is best for the kid so their argument will be this is for the kids.
Even though it is counter-intuitive, as I posted earlier, it is cheaper to vote YES on the referendum than allow the board to issue more debt. Most people will have a knee-jerk reaction and vote no and not realize that they are going to pay in higher taxes one way or the other - either via a tax rate increase via the referendum or via the continuing issuance of working cash bonds to keep the district afloat - which also raises taxes.
Quote from: berwyn senator on January 29, 2017, 12:50:59 PM
... will this stop the bleeding or will there be more bonds issued in the future....
There is nothing to prevent the board from issuing new bonds in the future, even if the referendum passes. In fact, last fall, the board issued two different types of bonds - a working cash bond for operational purposes (which is a similar to a short term loan) and a regular bond to address infrastructure issues (which was a long term 20 year bond).
I believe the additional $2.2 million per year should stop the bleeding but there is nothing to prevent the board from issuing bonds in the future except perhaps someone bringing a law suit against the board. That happened in West Chicago about a decade ago when the board exceeded their debt limit and the West Chicago district issued a "regular" bond. Working cash bonds are different because they are like short term loans but even working cash bonds can be put to referendum if enough signatures are collected within 30 days of the board declaring its intention to issue the bonds.
At least, that is my understanding (which may be wrong).
We have always voted for the schools, pay little attention to where the money goes.Believing what the board had stated about improving the schools and property values. I wonder if this is true property values are coming back, are the schools improving? or are they still influenced by politics? Again I say your posts are the most interesting.
Thank you Ted for starting this thread! I am working with a group called Fix the Funding: Berwyn D100. We are trying to get the word out to the community about how much this referendum is needed.
Ted did explain a quite a bit but one thing to mention: The board is COMMITTED to balancing the budget. They were not happy to refinance this last fall but it was the only way to make the budget work this year even after HUGE budget cuts that were put through. They are out of ways to cut the budget that will not have huge detrimental impacts on our kids and our schools. The refinancing last fall allowed them to stay on track this year and be able to make some emergency repairs that several of the schools needed (the patches are just costing us more and more)-- most notably-- there is an outside wall at Emerson Elementary that is failing- that needs repair.
Thank you to you all who have said you have always voted for the schools - we really do need you now. The schools have not passed a operational need referendum in close to 30 years. Yes-- 2 schools were built since then but that money did not address the increase of operational expenses that go a long with a much larger district.
We are trying to keep the costs as low as possible to our taxpayers while trying to keep our schools above water. D100 schools are doing fantastic things for their kids but we're at risk of losing quite a bit without this additional funding.
At this point-- it's not about ADDING services-- it's really about not LOSING any. If we don't pass this referendum-- the cuts will be in the classrooms with higher class sizes, completely doing away with sports and fine arts and we will continue to lose teaching staff (turnover is expensive!). Families will continue to leave and our stability and housing values are at risk.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or want to get more involved....
Find us at "Fix the Funding: Berwyn D100" on Facebook
Email us at fixthefunding@gmail.com
Donate at https://fundly.com/fix-the-funding-berwyn-d100
We are trying to raise money to be able to send out information to our voters in Berwyn. We're just a group of parents and other community members....
Come to our upcoming fundraiser at Outtaspace on February 12 from 2-6pm. We'll have music, kids activities, food, raffles, auctions-- fun for all ages.
More information on the referendum can be found here:
http://www.bsd100.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=345084&type=d&pREC_ID=888976 (http://www.bsd100.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=345084&type=d&pREC_ID=888976)
There will be informational meeting regarding the upcoming referendum here:
February 3 – LaVergne Education Center at 9 am
February 6 – LaVergne Education Center at 9 am (Presentation will be in Spanish)
February 7 – Heritage Middle School at 6 pm
February 15 – Hiawatha Elementary School at 6 pm
March 2 – Komensky Elementary School at 6 pm (Presentation will be in Spanish)
March 8 – LaVergne Education Center at 9 am
March 9 – LaVergne Education Center at 9 am (Presentation will be in Spanish)
March 15 – Irving Elementary School at 6 pm
March 29 – Pershing Elementary School at 6 pm
Quote from: berwyn senator on January 30, 2017, 08:53:53 AM
We have always voted for the schools, pay little attention to where the money goes.Believing what the board had stated about improving the schools and property values. I wonder if this is true property values are coming back, are the schools improving? ...
I do not think property values are going to come back to 2005 levels for a long time. I do not think passing the referendum will increase property values at all. I have argued with board members about this argument. I think it is a bogus argument for which there is no evidence that tax rate increases will increase property values - in fact, I have presented arguments and evidence (in facebook discussions) that showed cases where a tax rate increase did not improve property values versus the property values in neighboring communities that did not have a tax rate increase.
Quote from: berwyn senator on January 30, 2017, 08:53:53 AM
... or are they still influenced by politics? ...
Unfortunately the political influence in D100 has gotten worse since 2013 when several candidates supported by Mayor Robert Lovero were elected to the school board, defeating long time board members Joanne Zendol and Dawn Rinehart.
Right after the 2013 election, the board changed its long time architectural firm, long time auditing firm and (a year later) its long time law firm to the DelGaldo law firm (which has close ties to Lovero).
In the 2015 election, DelGaldo was explicitly involved in the election of school board candidates associated with or backed by Lovero (most probably in order to keep their contract as the school district's lawyer).
Also, after the 2013 election, politically connected employees of the district were handsomely rewarded and there were also patronage hirings as well.
One of the newer school board members has been explicit in her support of DCOB candidates in the February election (on facebook) and does not try to hide her attachment to the DCOB.
So, I would say the district has become more political since the 2013 election.
Quote from: chandasz on January 30, 2017, 11:26:37 AM
.... The board is COMMITTED to balancing the budget. They were not happy to refinance this last fall but it was the only way to make the budget work this year even after HUGE budget cuts that were put through. ...
What happened last fall was more than a refinancing of existing bonds. There was also a new working cash bond that was not a refinance of existing bonds and which citizens could have put to referendum if they had collected enough signatures within 30 days of the board declaring its intent to issue a working cash bond.
Last fall, the board did two things - First, it refinanced existing 20 year bonds to bring in money to do some infrastructure projects.
Second, the board also issued a new Working Cash Bond to replenish the reserve funds so they would have enough money to pay the bills in January.
The Working Cash Bond was a new bond and it was a short term bond - I have likened it to a PayDay loan (although I know there are board members who do not like that analogy). The Working Cash bond must be paid out of the regular property taxes rather than out of the debt property tax. It is short term in length (I think 3 to 5 years) and it essentially cuts into the operational revenue used to run the district. Instead of using "regular" property taxes for operating the district, the money is used to pay off the principle and interest on the working cash bond. Interest rates on working cash bonds are usually much higher.
Thus, what the board did last fall was more than re-financing existing long term bonds. It was also issuing new short term bonds as well.
I do not like the thought of loosing music and the arts,sports I could care less about.There is way too much emphasis on sports, which takes time from studying and other academics.Why didn't the projections of cost in the new buildings include operational expenses? The new law firm change did this save or cost more money?District employees who were rewarded are they willing to a cut in pay? So now asking for more money without cuts does not sound like a commitment to balancing the budget.
Quote from: berwyn senator on January 31, 2017, 11:16:34 AM
....Why didn't the projections of cost in the new buildings include operational expenses?
The infrastructure projects were for the old buildings. For example, the wall is falling down at Emerson and the heating system at Hiawatha keeps breaking down. The district has claimed they deferred these projects because of the budget deficit.
Quote from: berwyn senator on January 31, 2017, 11:16:34 AM
District employees who were rewarded are they willing to a cut in pay? So now asking for more money without cuts does not sound like a commitment to balancing the budget.
I do think the district is trying to balance the budget. The issuance of the working cash bond was a desperate measure - no school board wants to issue bonds that get paid back through the operational revenue, because that cuts into the money for instruction and building maintenance.
As for the politically connected getting large raises and promotions, we are talking about a handful of people and definitely not taking about teachers. The money involved is minute compared to the total budget. But, this type of political favoritism does irk me. And, I doubt that handful of people are going to give back their raises.
I live in a large bungalow time has taught me expect the unexpected.Basic finance teaches always to have an emergency fund! They do have inspectors to look at areas that may need repairs in the near future or present one would think, educated people would do this.They all must live in homes? Simple roofs, keep track when replaced, how long they last? I guess I am trying to be to practical,sometimes putting off the inevitable costs much more in the long run. Politics has always been an issue because the voters need to take more control how I have no idea. The Teachers suffer all the political consequences and can discouraged from what goes on.I think there is always some type of excuse! For not cutting in the correct places, nepotism.
Quote from: berwyn senator on February 01, 2017, 09:19:35 AMPolitics has always been an issue because the voters need to take more control how I have no idea.
Voting.
How many residents do not vote?
Berwyn's turnout rate is around 60-70 percent in presidential election years. Presumably it's lower in other years.
Quote from: berwyn senator on February 01, 2017, 03:55:18 PM
How many residents do not vote?
In non-municipal election years, the turnout is around 1300 to 1500. In municipal election years with a contested mayoral race and aldermanic races, it is in the range of 7,000 to 10,000.
This year will be like 2013 - a municipal race which is not contested. In 2013, the turnout was 1800.
But, I expect the turnout to be higher if a referendum is on the ballot. In 2007, D201 put a referendum on the February ballot and there was nothing else on the ballot in Berwyn that election. Turnout was 2900. In the school board election in April of 2007, the turnout was 2200.
So expect people to come out to vote in April who normally do not vote in school board elections if there is a referendum on the ballot.
If South Berwyn District 100 does not get the hispanic parents of children in the district to vote, I do believe the referendum will fail.
Do non-hispanic Berwynites dislike the schools? Dislike their tax dollars being spent on them? Dislike hispanics?
Good Questions! Why are there meetings in other languages? I thought English was our language?
America does not have an official language.
Ok! Then why not in Polish,Czech,Italian,etc? I know because of the population. Still is English the most spoken in the U.S.?
What's your point?
Since a large proportion of Berwyn speaks Spanish, as I am sure you know, the schools are trying to be inclusive to everyone.
If we had 70% polish-speaking population- communication would be in Polish as well.
Right?
Right.
Here is the amount of money that District 100 has lost in the last 5 years due to cutbacks in state funding and due to the change in the state aid formula.
The numbers come from D100 board president Robert Pauly. The revenue for D100 the last 5 years has been around $40 million, so it represents essentially a 4% to 5% cut in revenue over the last 5 years:
2012 $799,703
2013 $1,810,167
2014 $2,015,637
2015 $2,339,533
2016 $1,431,030
Total $8,396,070.
Does money guarantee a good education? How much money can thrown into the fire without realizing it does no good. When a company is in trouble they look at every way to cut the fat, why not the schools? I may have said this before, bungalows now house extra families resulting in many more children.Single family homes paying taxes, with three families,garbage bills for single family homes with three families. This all stresses the system so the individual homeowner pays.
Tell me more about the "fat" in the schools. Why is it important for schools to behave like for-profit businesses? What resources, to your mind, are extraneous when it comes to educating children, and how have Berwyn schools benefitted from the ones that are already cut?
Quote from: berwyn senator on February 11, 2017, 11:01:20 AM
Does money guarantee a good education? How much money can thrown into the fire without realizing it does no good. When a company is in trouble they look at every way to cut the fat, why not the schools? I may have said this before, bungalows now house extra families resulting in many more children.Single family homes paying taxes, with three families,garbage bills for single family homes with three families. This all stresses the system so the individual homeowner pays.
The school board has said they have cut as much as possible. As I told you before, the district took out a working cash bond last October because they wouldn't have had enough money to pay the bills in January. A working cash bond is a last resort measure - sort of like a pay day loan.
Also, as I said in another post, you are going to pay for it one way or another - either via higher debt (which will raise your taxes) or via the tax rate. One way or another, your taxes are going to go up. Pick your poison.
Ok! I agree, must have forgot your post!
I think I and many others feel where the expense is coming from.
i just looked up my tax reassessment online at the Cook County Assessor office. They will mail them out on Monday. It's a good thing that the referendum was on the ballot this year. With one of the highest tax rates in Cook County and from what I can see is an at least 20 to 30% increase in assessments in my area most taxpayers will be in for a rude awakening when the tax bills are mailed for the second half next year. I'm also pretty sure that the increase is citywide.
Are you saying that Berwyn has one of the highest property tax rates in Cook County? What I'm seeing is that Berwyn's is lower than at least a dozen Cook County municipalities, including Forest View, Bridgeview, and Cicero.
Quote from: MRS. NORTHSIDER on April 28, 2017, 05:16:30 PM
i just looked up my tax reassessment online at the Cook County Assessor office. They will mail them out on Monday. It's a good thing that the referendum was on the ballot this year. With one of the highest tax rates in Cook County and from what I can see is an at least 20 to 30% increase in assessments in my area most taxpayers will be in for a rude awakening when the tax bills are mailed for the second half next year. I'm also pretty sure that the increase is citywide.
Not quite true. Tax levies are a zero sum game. When assessments go up, the tax rate goes down in inverse proportion. For example, if all the residencies in D100 have an equalized assessed value of $2 billion dollars and a tax rate of $3 per $100 of assessed value and the triennial assessment increases the total EAV to $3 billion dollars, then the tax rate is decreased to $2 per $100 of assessed value.
Taxing bodies (except for home rule communities) are still limited to increases determined by the cost of living index.
You are not going to pay more in taxes into D100 because of the re-assessment, simply because D100 is too small of a geographic area to have large variations in the change of assessed values.
Where the re-assessments does have a large impact is in larger geographic areas such as Cook County taxes or in the City of Chicago. If the assessments in Lakeview increase dramatically and Englewood has assessments decrease dramatically, then the Lakeview taxes will increase beyond the cost of living because of the re-assessments.
But, Berwyn (and D100 in particular) is too small a geographic area to have that type of variation with the assessments.
Another place it would matter would be taxes going to Cook County. But, for Berwyn taxes to be affected beyond the cost of living, Berwyn's assessed values would have to (percentage wise) be far above the increase in assessed values in most other townships in Cook County. And, looking at the Tribune figures on housing price increases, I think Berwyn's increases are around the same rate as increases in other townships.
So, I do not think the re-assessments themselves will make taxes increase. What would make taxes increase beyond the cost of living is if taxing bodies in Berwyn incur more debt (and issue new bonds) or if the city of Berwyn uses its home rule power to increase taxes beyond the cost of living.
The biggest increases in taxes over the last 8 years were when, in 2009, the city of Berwyn increased its tax rate by 15% and when District 100 issued more and more bonds for technology purchases and to stave off running out of money and when the city of Berwyn in 2014 issued a $30 million dollar bond to replenish the fireman's pension fund.
Those are the things that will dramatically increase your taxes - not the triennial reassessment (unless you think Berwyn's housing market is increasing faster than other suburban townships, which I do not think is the case). As I said, tax levies are a zero sum game.
Thank you for taking the time to clarify, Ted.
Yes, thanks Ted. My point was that it was a good thing that District 100 got the referendum passed before the new assessments were released. I have done the math and based on the new assessment my taxes will go at least $2000. Perhaps you have a senior exemption or a freeze. In my area of Berwyn, there will be a rude awakening. I had an almost 40 percent increase on the value of my property. I definitely cannot get a return on a sale of 40% from 3 years ago. If I could, I would be gone.
Quote from: MRS. NORTHSIDER on May 02, 2017, 10:03:02 PM
Yes, thanks Ted. My point was that it was a good thing that District 100 got the referendum passed before the new assessments were released. I have done the math and based on the new assessment my taxes will go at least $2000. Perhaps you have a senior exemption or a freeze. In my area of Berwyn, there will be a rude awakening. I had an almost 40 percent increase on the value of my property. I definitely cannot get a return on a sale of 40% from 3 years ago. If I could, I would be gone.
Mrs. N, I do not think your taxes will go up by $2,000. That was my point in my post. It is not linear.
When assessments go up, the corresponding tax rate in each taxing body goes down in inverse proportion.
For example, if the tax rate is $3 and the total assessments in a taxing body is $2 billion dollars, if the total assessments go up to $3 billion dollars, then the tax rate goes down to $2, keeping the taxes the same as they were before the assessment.
The reassessment will result in a tax increase for you ONLY if your assessment increase was, percentage-wise, higher than the average percentage increase in Berwyn and Cook County.
As a simplistic example, suppose the average assessment increase in Berwyn and in Cook County was 20%. If your assessment increase was 20%, then the reassessment will NOT result in a tax increase (although other factors may cause an increase in taxes, it will not be because of the reassessment).
If the average increase in Berwyn and Cook County was 20% and your assessment was a 25% increase, then the assessment will result in an increase in your taxes BUT it will NOT be 25% increase resulting from the reassessment. The increase is not linear.
Likewise, if the average increase in Berwyn and Cook County was 20% and your assessment increased by only 10%, then the assessment results in a decrease in taxes.
Remember, over the last few reassessment cycle, Berwyn's assessments actually decreased but that did not result in a significant decrease in taxes. There was a small decrease at the county level taxes because Berwyn's decline was much larger than the rest of Cook County, but there was no decrease in taxes to the Berwyn taxing bodies, which make up the majority of the taxes collected.
Think of tax levies like a pie. The pie can grow only at the rate of inflation - not beyond that. The reassessments do not make the pie grow larger than the cost of living.
Your property taxes are a slice of that pie, based on the assessment. The only thing that the reassessment does is determine if your slice of the pie grows larger or smaller, relative to the assessment of all of your neighbors. It does not make the pie itself get bigger.
I do not have a senior exemption. But, as I said, the tax increase is not linear based on how much assessments increased. Just as taxes did not decrease when assessments went down, taxes will not increase significantly when the assessments go up.
I d not think that your taxes will not go up by $2,000 because of the reassessments. Wait until July and see what the tax bill is. Taxes will increase because of additional debt by D100 and the D100 tax rate increase. And, taxes to Cook County may increase if Berwyn's assessments increased more than the average across Cook County (and because only one third of Cook County was reassessed). But, I do not think you will see a $2,000 increase.
I get the impression that Mrs. Northsider is trying to (gently) express her resentment at schools getting more money.
Quote from: markberwyn on May 03, 2017, 10:59:21 AM
I get the impression that Mrs. Northsider is trying to (gently) express her resentment at schools getting more money.
The tax rate increase from the referendum should not add extra money to the tax levy or people's taxes beyond $37.66 per $1,000 in property taxes paid.
What should happen in the tax rate increase is added to the existing non-debt tax rate and then the new tax rate should be adjusted downward when the new total assessment of the district is calculated.
I say "should" because there was a case a few years ago in another Illinois school district (I forgot which one) where the tax rate approved in the referendum was added after the assessment adjustment, causing the school district to get more in income than it should have.
A citizen in the district took the district to court and pointed out the incorrectness of the calculation.