The Real Story on the Tax Levy
by Tom Mulligan
November 19, 2009
The Riverton School District will soon be posting a notice in the paper on the upcoming tax levy hearing. This is a legal notice in which the form of the notice is required by the state board of education. Because of its format, the levy notice is very misleading. The notice implies that the school district will be raising taxpayers’ taxes by over 15%. Since we are under tax caps, the school district is only allowed to tax a 0.1% (this year’s CPI figure) increase on existing property. In other words, if the existing property wealth (or equalized assessed value) in the district went up 10% (as a result of reassessments), the school district could still only tax 0.1% of that increase. However, tax cap law does allow the school district to fully tax all new property. Since we are required to set the levy before we know what the amount of new property will be in the district (we usually find out in January or later), the number is set at 15% to ensure we will get the full tax on new property. In reality, current taxpayers should see a decline in the portion of their taxes that goes to the school district unless they have been reassessed (which has absolutely nothing to do with the school district). For more information, read the related article on the “Riverton Tax Rate.”
The Riverton School District will soon be adopting the Tax Levy for the 2009 Tax Year. The Riverton CUSD #14 is again expecting the tax rate for the district to remain the same or decline this year. This rate reduction would mark the eleventh time in fourteen years that there has been a decrease in the tax rate. The tax rate is applied to determine the portion of each person’s tax bill that goes to the school district. Last year, the overall tax rate went from $3.9657 per $100 of equalized assessed value up to $4.0400. The reason for the slight increase was because the equalized assessed value for the district went up less than 4% last year because of the down turn in the housing market. As a result, this drove the rate for the school district building bonds to increase slightly. Even though there was a slight increase, the rate has dropped over $.75 since its high in 1995 ($4.7538).
In a recent report from the Sangamon County Clerks Office on the 2008 Tax Levy, Riverton has the 3rd lowest tax rate of the district in Sangamon County. The only two districts with lower tax rates than Riverton ($4.0400) were Pawnee ($3.9358) and Auburn ($3.4415). That means that several school districts were well above the Riverton School District Tax rate. The Sangamon County district with the highest tax rate was Pleasant Plains at $5.1198). See chart below for summary.
The overall tax rate includes voter approved bonds for building projects. In 2005, the voters of the Riverton School District approved a referendum for the recent school construction project in our district. Last year, those bonds represented ($0.6752) of the district total’s total rate. That leaves $3.3648 for a tax rate that is not voter approved. In this scenario, the Riverton School District has the lowest overall tax rate, excluding voter approved bonds. The next closest district to Riverton is Auburn with a rate of $3.4415. See chart below for summary
Total Tax Rate
| District | Rank | Tax Rate |
| Auburn | 1 | 3.4415 |
| Pawnee | 2 | 3.9358 |
| Riverton | 3 | 4.0400 |
| Chatham | 4 | 4.2327 |
| Rochester | 5 | 4.3575 |
| Springfield | 7 | 4.5638 |
| Tri-City | 6 | 4.5837 |
| Williamsville | 8 | 4.6655 |
| New Berlin | 9 | 4.7287 |
| Pleasant Plains | 10 | 5.1198 |
Total Tax Rate (excluding Bond and Interest)
| District | Rank | Tax Rate |
| Riverton | 1 | 3.3648 |
| Auburn | 2 | 3.4415 |
| Rochester | 3 | 3.5088 |
| Pawnee | 4 | 3.5890 |
| Chatham | 5 | 3.6368 |
| Williamsville | 6 | 3.8022 |
| New Berlin | 7 | 4.0645 |
| Tri-City | 8 | 4.0686 |
| Springfield | 9 | 4.1997 |
| Pleasant Plains | 10 | 4.7554 |
