Huntley Village Board plans to maintain a flat tax levy
HUNTLEY – At the Nov. 18 Huntley Village Board meeting, Huntley Finance Director Cathy Haley presented trustee members with three plans regarding the direction the village can take for the next tax levy.
Haley told village board members that all three tax levy options abide by the village’s financial policies and are based on the current estimated assessed valuations or EAV reports from McHenry and Kane counties.
McHenry County is estimating about a 4.85% increase in valuation of which 1.82% is attributable to new construction and Kane County is estimating an increase of about 1.88% of which 0.44% is attributable to new construction, according to Haley.
The first tax levy option Haley presented involved increasing the police pension levy to meet the village’s requirement to have that pension fund be at least 90% funded by 2040. This option would increase the village’s tax levy by 0.91% and would have an estimated $1 impact on homeowners with a home value of approximately $275,000 in 2020.
To meet the demands of Huntley’s police pension fund obligations and continue to maintain a zero dollar increase in last year’s levy, the village had to decrease their general operations fund by $220,807.
The second option for the levy would be to capture the new growth that the EAV has estimated for Kane and McHenry counties.
“Increasing the levy lines for new growth allows the village the opportunity to increase the property tax dollars without impacting existing residents. The increased dollars are spread amongst the new construction values. This total increase in [the] levy would be $64,409 or 1.34%,” said Haley.
The estimated EAV for both counties in 2021 is over $1 billion and like the first option, option two would have a similar $1 impact on homeowners.
Option three would maintain the tax levy flat but would have an approximate $12 per year impact on homeowners with a home value of about $275,000 in 2020.
Following Haley’s presentation, trustees were allowed to voice their opinion on which of the three tax levy options would be best for the village.
Trustee Curt Kittle commented that he was stuck choosing between options two and three, while also stating that option one would not meet the village’s vision moving forward.
Trustee Harry Leopold agreed with Kittle in ruling out option one but stated that it would benefit Huntley to capture all of the growth estimated in the EAV presented in option two.
“I’m okay with [option] three. I mean we’re growing. We’re a growing community. I mean $12 annually on a $275,000 home I don’t think is a big burden. I’m okay with [options] two or three. I’d rather see [option] three so we could get staffing done correctly,” said Trustee Niko Kanakaris.
Regarding the comment on staffing Kanakaris mentioned, it was about a statement Haley made for the third levy option.
She explained that the village could still capture some EAV dollars which would equate to $183,651 and would in turn add $140,000 in the general operating fund that would help cover the ongoing operational costs associated with hiring new staff in the fiscal 2022 budget.
Trustees Mary Holzkopf and Ronda Goldman also chose option three as their preferred choice.
According to Huntley’s Village Manager Dave Johnson, the village has made well over $1 million in 2021 through permits alone, which will help with some costs associated with should the village board decide on keeping the tax levy flat as done previously.
“The 2022 budget, based on the development activity we have in front of us, we currently have the draft number in the draft budget [of] $650,000 in building permit revenue for 2022,” said Johnson.
Trustee JR Westberg followed Johnson’s statement by adding that since the village was seeing a positive trend in permit revenue growth, that they should opt to go with option two for the tax levy.
“I mean I understand $12 isn’t much, but the gas price is going up. Food’s going up. A lot of things are going up. I think we [should] capture the new growth. We’re looking at some good permit money coming in as well so option two. Capture the growth,” Westberg said.
Seeing as option three was the most popular choice amongst the trustees, Huntley Mayor Tim Hoeft told Haley that the board was prepared to take that option as the direction in which they plan to move with the upcoming levy.
The village board held a public hearing on Dec. 9 to hear more from residents on their thoughts of holding the tax levy flat for yet another year.
“I like option three after sitting here all these years and knowing how often we kept our levy frozen. We did it for years and we’re at a point now where we’re going to gain more home development in two or three areas. I think that we need to bring in as much as we can. I can’t see $12 are going to kill people annually,” said Goldman.
