Champaign City Tax Levy

Last week the City of Champaign's Council passed their tax levy and abatement ordinances. From the abatement ordinance, "The City Council has determined that an appropriate total tax levy rate for
the City of Champaign is $1.3152" (the 2017 figure was also $1.3152). The total levy and the various parts that comprise it appear to be similar to, if not slightly higher than the amounts proposed back in October at a previous Council meeting. The News-Gazette had a break down of those figures for comparison:

Champaign council begins annual process of deciding tax levy
It's the beginning of tax-levy and budget season for the city of Champaign, and financial forecasts for 2019 say recent growth means more tax revenue for the city.

But it still faces long-term structural imbalances because of pension and health-benefit costs, staff say.

Still, the past year's growth will see $826,023 more in property-tax revenue flow into the city's coffers, even with the tax levy at the same level as it has been for the past six years...

This year's levy includes:

— A 3.6 percent increase in the Library Operations and Improvements levies. It's part of a policy to use growth in assessed value to raise the library's levy.

— A 2.9 percent increase to the Capital Improvements Levy to account for increasing construction costs in the next year.

— An 8 percent increase to account for police, fire and Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund pension obligations, as well as to keep pension funding well above state requirements. This accounts for hiring new employees, retirements and other similar changes.

— A 26.8 percent reduction in the general fund. That money will be diverted to pay for increases in the levy.

The percentage increases are difficult to compare to the actual ordinance passed. Links to the proposed numbers here and passed numbers here for a more direct apples to apples comparison. For an explanation of tax levies versus tax rates, I have a primer post with a few different attempts to explain the concepts (as I struggled with it myself): Tax Levies versus Tax Rates