Plainfield School Board Approves $198 Million Tax Levy

The Plainfield School District 202 school board on Monday approved their request for the annual tax levy.

The district plans to ask the Will and Kendall County clerks for about $197.87 million in local property taxes, which includes bond and interest, in the 2012 levy.

Read: Plainfield Schools to Increase Tax Levy

The levy — the official request for its share of property taxes — is about 20 percent higher than the 2011 extension, or the amount the district actually receives, of about $164.9 million. The district expects the difference between the actual 2012 levy and the 2011 extension to be less than 20 percent.

The official extension will be calculated after the district’s final equalized assessed value is set in April.

Typically, governments levy for or request more taxes than they expect to receive in order to get their full share of taxes and not lose any potential revenue.

The state tax cap law limits the amount of new revenues the district can levy each year to either the rate of inflation or 5 percent, whichever is less. For the 2012 levy, the rate of inflation is 3 percent. Therefore, the district can only increase its local property tax revenues by 3 percent plus the value of new construction.

Related: Plainfield School District Deficit Projected at $1.8 Million