The Beecher 200U school board approved a 4.9% tax levy increase at its Dec. 10 meeting.
The dollar figure the district is seeking approval from Will County is $12.6 million but Superintendent Jack Gaham said the board will have to wait and see how much will actually go to the schools.
They should find that out in March.
But it won’t be more than they are asking for.
“I could ask for a billion dollars and you all can improve a billion dollars,” he told the board. “The Will County assessor will go, ‘Ha, here is your less than 5%.’”
The key is what the Equalized Assessed Value a will be. The EAV is basically a resident’s property value.
Will County has provided the district with a preliminary EAV and Gaham stresses the word “preliminary.”
“They give me some numbers, I do a little magic, and I take my very best guess at what it’s going to be and I do some math,” he said. “I can assure you it’s not going to be more than 4.99%. It can only go down because if the EAV goes up, the aggregate stays the same and the rate goes down.
“You want to have the EAV go up if you want your rate to go down. It’s a balancing act.”
He said the “million dollar question” residents have is if their taxes are going up.
Gaham referred them to the district’s website to help figure that out.
“There is a 2025 levy calculator on the website,” he said. “You can put in your EAV from last year…if nothing changes, the tax bill will go down 100 bucks. If the EAV goes up, you will pay a little bit more taxes. I don’t know what you have done or what you have not done to your home.
“But this will kind of give you an idea of what to expect.”
Coming and going
The board recognized the resignation of Ryne Benca as a district mechanic and Jonathan Kypuros as high school assistant boys soccer coach.
It also approved the employment of Jerry Gersch, Jr. as district mechanic.
The board decided to reopen the search for a high school girls volleyball head coach and assistant coaching positions.
Here we go again with tax increases. Find different ways to get your money instead of constantly hitting the tax payers. Senior citizens are seriously having issues to just pay their bills.