by Cal Skinner

The folks telling reporters what to look for when tax districts pass their tax levies for next year know what the target is.

As readers of McHenry County Blog should know by now, any school or other tax district that increases its levy (the amount of money it would like us to pay in this coming year’s tax bill) above what was collected last year is pretty much automatically going to force you and me to pay more money in our next real estate tax bill than we paid this year.

The reason is that while real estate inflation was increasing more that the Cost of Living over the life of the Property Tax Cap (the insiders call it PTELL), the tax cap forced tax rates set by state statute below their maximums.

The tax cap allows tax districts to collect what they got the previous year, plus whatever the CPI has increased.

It’s last year’s “extension” (pretty much what was collected last year), plus the CPI. That’s the maximum that can be extracted from our checkbooks.

The increase in the CPI means the limit for next year is what was collected last year, plus 1.5%.

So asking for at least 1.5% more than last year allows tax districts to get the maximum amount possible until they bump up against the statutory tax rate maximums.

There is, however, unfortunately a parenthesis.

Tax districts are allowed to capture all of the assessment from new construction.

Most would consider that OK.

So, most tax districts decide to “balloon” levy (up 1.5% this year, plus some more) to make darn certain they get every dime from us current property owners, plus the new construction to which they are allowed to get under the Tax Cap.

What their districts do for mankind, the logic goes, is more important that your deciding how to spend that “little bit” of money.

The “however” almost always results in increasing the tax bills for current property owners.

In the NWH’s story on the Fox River Grove Fire Protection District, reporter Katie Anderson goes right to the heart of the matter:

“Representatives of the Fox River Grove Fire Protection District voted recently on a 2011 tax levy that is 0.07 percent higher than last year’s extension.

“Under the tax cap law, the district could have levied up to 1.5 percent – the rate of inflation over last year.”

Bravo!

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by Illinois Policy Institute

Summary of “Pensions vs. schools: Higher education” which examines pension costs compared to higher education spending

Download “Pensions vs. schools: Higher education” here or read it here.

• Higher education retirement costs will increase by nearly $350 million in fiscal year 2013.
• This jump in payments will almost certainly cause higher education retirement expenditures to eclipse other state support for higher education.
• Between fiscal years 2005 and 2010, approximately 80 percent of all new state funding for higher education has gone toward retirement expenditures.

(click on image for higher-res version)

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Problem is not only is the CME looking for special consideration, so is Sears and other major corporate taxpayers and area employers.  Senate President John Cullerton says he needs Republicans to support the CME exemptions, but Senate Republicans are hesitant.

“No one in this State wants to lose Sears or the Chicago Merc. But the bill offered right now looks more like a bailout than a jobs bill,” State Senator Ron Sandack tweeted Wednesday morning.  Pressed that he sounded like he was leaning to “no,” Sandack responded to IR, “Strongly leaning that way. Dems made this mess & picking winners & losers is now their way of “fixing” things. Level field!”

Sandack’s comments correlate with the Tribune’s explanation:

To win support from both parties, the legislation has broadened in scope to include tax breaks to encourage Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) to remain in Illinois, and a multiyear extension of a research-and-development tax credit for all state businesses.

More…

“Moral outrage is the most powerful motivating force in politics.” – Morton C. Blackwell

On Saturday December 3rd, over 50 Illinois conservatives gathered to discuss values, principled leadership and the heart of conservatism at the Illinois Value Voters Forum, moderated by Allen Skillicorn. Conservative Republicans and Tea Partiers discussed the issues of the day with U.S. Congressman Joe Walsh, Policy Expert Bruno Behrend, State Representative Tom Morrison and former State Representative Penny Pullen. Participants also took part in a Presidential straw poll and the results follow:

Newt Gingrich – 48%
Ron Paul – 22%
Rick Santorum – 11%
Michelle Bachman – 11%
Herman Cain – 4%

EXAMPLES OF GOOD STUFF HAPPENING IN WISCONSIN:

Ashland School District – saved $378,000 on health insurance;

http://www.ashlandwi.com/articles/2011/07/18/news/doc4e24f08b80b26580859031.txt

Kimberly School District – saved $821,000 by dropping WEA Trust Insurance;

http://maciverinstitute.com/2011/07/wisconsin-school-districts-are-switching-health-care-providersplans-to-create-savings-in-2011/

Edgerton School District – dropping WEA Trust, expecting to save at least $500,000;

http://gazettextra.com/news/2011/mar/15/edgerton-reaches-teacher-contract/

Here are additional examples. I won’t include all of the links, but this information is easy to check on Google.

Baraboo School District – dropping WEA Trust, expecting to save at least $660,000;

Dodgeland School District – dropping WEA Trust, expecting to save $260,000

Elmbrook School District – changing health care provider, savings estimated at $878,000;

Mequon-Thiensville School District – saving $49,000 on dental insurance coverage;

Marshfield School District – saving $850,00 by dropping WEA Trust;

City of Sheboygan – Mayor Bob Ryan says collective bargaining reforms will provide enough savings to make up for the reduction in state aid;

Wauwatosa School District – tax levy decreasing, no programs will be cut, class sizes won’t increase, thanks to the reforms in collective bargaining;

Manitowoc – Laid-off city workers may get their jobs back due to the wage/benefit reforms contained in Walker’s budget. Changes to overtime rules saving the county $100,000;

Pittsville – will see a 9% decrease in the school portion of their property tax levy. “This is the first year we have not needed to short-term borrow,” stated Board President Strenn;

Appleton School District – will save $3.1 million just in health insurance costs due to being able to bid out the coverage and being able to drop WEA Trust;

Racine County – inmates can now be used to perform tasks such as landscaping, painting and shoveling sidewalks. Executive Ladwig states this is a win/win for the inmates and the county. It frees up county employees for other tasks, gives the inmates a sense of value, and helps the county maintain property that has been neglected.”

Kaukauna School District – hiring additional teachers, reducing class sizes, enacting a merit pay system, and due to Walker’s Budget Bill, Kaukauna’s operating budget has moved from a negative $400,000 to a positive $1,500,000. Much of this savings was due to being able to drop WEA Trust.

Hartland School District – switched from WEA Trust and saved $690,000;

Hudson School District – saved $832,000 on health insurance due to ability to bid the insurance.

KSTP did a study of the savings in Sheila Harsdorf’s 10th Senate District. They found that Ellsworth, Prescott, Menomonie, Somerset and Hudson school districts are all reporting large savings due to the changes signed into law by Walker.

Keep in mind, WEA TRUST is Shelly Moore’s union insurance company, a company that has obviously been ripping off the school districts for years, thanks to collective bargaining that prohibited school districts from seeking insurance coverage from any company other than WEA Trust. How much tax money would we have saved if school districts had been “allowed by the unions” to bid out their insurance over the years? I’d say probably many, many, many millions statewide. It’s the union money train running off the tracks, finally, and Shelly and her union don’t like it.

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Crain’s Chicago Business—The high price of political payback at McCormick place, “Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan cost taxpayers nearly half-a-billion dollars by blocking repeated efforts to restructure McCormick Place bonds and finance a much-needed second hotel at the convention center, a Crain’s investigation finds. Between 2005 and 2010, Mr. Madigan stopped five refinancing bills, ignoring declining interest rates that would have saved hundreds of millions. At the time, he never explained why, but his reasons seem petty and political: McCormick Place CEO Juan Ochoa, an appointee of then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, had fired a Madigan ally at the convention center, and lawmakers from both parties say the speaker wanted retribution.”