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Some taxing entities have money in bank
PROPERTY TAXES
FOLLOW the MONEY A Northwest Herald series
More than a quarter possess ‘rainy day’ fund
LOW
42 31 Complete forecast on page A12
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Vaccine policy feedback rolls in Centegra Physician Care’s move to drop unvaccinated kids part of a national trend
By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com
and ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com
L
ooking at Harrison School District 36’s transportation fund just makes Cliff Leegard angry. The 69-year-old Wonder Lake resident joined a lawsuit objecting to the property tax levies filed by the district as well as multiple other entities last month. His frustration stemmed from the $2.8 million the single-building school More district has online collected in property taxFor more stoes over three ries, charts and years for photos from transportation but was this series, visit instead used NWHerald. to pay bond com/properpayments or tytaxes. is just sitting in the bank. “I don’t want them to just have a slush fund they can spend at will,” Leegard said. Harrison School District 36 is one of four school districts in McHenry County to have enough money in their operating funds to cover a year’s worth of normal expenses at the end of their 2013-14 budget year, the most recent year complete records are available, a Northwest Herald analysis found. More than a quarter of taxing entities – which include school districts, municipalities, sanitary districts, townships, park districts, fire protection districts and library districts – have that much money in the bank, although those numbers can be inflated for taxing entities that use a cash accounting system instead of an accrual one, the analysis found. “It really is good government and good planning to have some level of a rainy day fund, some sort of money set aside,” said Carol Portman, the president of the watchdog group Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois. “Most governments – because local governments get most of their revenue from property taxes – have a fair amount of control, but you don’t know what kind of expenses you’ll have, and you don’t know what hiccups will come.”
HIGH
By CAITLIN SWIECA cswieca@shawmedia.com
H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Students move between mobile classrooms on the Riley elementary and middle school campus in Marengo. Riley District 18 has a high number of days cash on hand. As an explanation, district officials have said a potential project to eliminate two of the district’s mobile classrooms is something it has been saving for.
ABOUT THIS SERIES For Illinoisans, property taxes are a sore spot. Illinois has the second-highest property taxes in the nation, and McHenry County is in the top 10 for highest property taxes in the state. Illinois also ranks first in the country with nearly 7,000 taxing districts, which makes examining one’s tax bill a confusing exercise. While taxpayers are annoyed by the price tag, property taxes also are a primary source of revenue for local taxing bodies. This series examines some of the issues in Illinois for residents and taxing bodies.
THE SERIES DAY-BY-DAY THURSDAY High property taxes in Illinois and McHenry County have residents fleeing for other states. For residents paying close to $10,000 in taxes alone, many have decided enough is enough. Lowering property taxes is among the items on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda.”
FRIDAY The bulk of property taxes in Illinois, around 62 percent, goes to public schools. How much individual residents pay varies from school district to school district. What are among the reasons some residents pay more than others? One effort to ease property taxes has been an attempt to consolidate townships, which hasn’t gotten much traction from the McHenry County Board. We’ll take a look at the township portion of property taxes.
SATURDAY Some taxing bodies are maxed out on what they’re allowed to tax, which they say has been difficult as property value has declined. In 2014, 34 of McHenry County’s 117 taxing bodies reached the maximum tax rate in one or more of their funds.
TODAY A few taxing bodies have been building huge cash reserves, which is frustrating for taxpayers who still are paying high tax rates. Some are saving for major projects they have planned. At least one school district is making some efforts to change the trend of keeping a large surplus.
County school districts planning projects to spend down savings More inside
By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com This year, the superintendent of Wonder Lake-based Harrison School District 36 has recommended a decrease in the property tax levy of more than 15 percent below last year’s. The average cost savings will be about $505 on the District 36 portion of the tax bill for a home valued at $100,000, Superintendent Sue Wings said, adding that assumes a level equalized assessed value. If adopted by the school board, it’s a move that should represent an effort to change by spending down reserves instead of raising taxes to operate the district, she said. She also acknowledged the district’s taxing practices have become a point of concern, so much so District 36 has landed on the defending side of a property tax objection lawsuit. A Northwest Herald analysis of the 19 McHenry County school districts found District 36 is among four that have more than a year’s worth of cash in the bank. If revenue stopped streaming in, it would have enough saved up to operate for more than a year on reserves alone. Another 11 school districts have more than double the 90-day benchmark, the analysis found. It’s important to note, these numbers are not perfect and this is one of many metrics that can be used to measure a school district’s financial health. Numbers were drawn from 2014 annual financial
McHenry County taxing entities save up for big purchases, uncertainties. PAGE A4 reports, which represent a moment in each district’s financial life. Depending on a district’s accounting system – cash- or accrual-based – the number of days cash on hand will be inflated. Those with a cash-based system count in their fund balances early tax dollars that typically won’t be used until the next school year. Up there with District 36 is McHenry School District 15, which has just more than a year’s worth of cash on hand. A savings to last at least that long makes sense to keep the district “safe” in light of potential changes that are outside a district’s control, some school officials said. “The state’s situation doesn’t make life better,” District 15 Chief Financial Officer Mark Bertolozzi said, describing a potential property tax freeze or a potential pension cost shift. “A lot of people are hesitant to run as lean as they could because they’re fearful of getting some pretty big bills from Springfield.” In addition, he said a lot of District 15’s reserves have been set aside for a specific purpose, namely an ongoing, multimillion-dollar project to eliminate all the district’s mobile classrooms.
In the days since the announcement Centegra Physician Care pediatricians would no longer treat unvaccinated children, Dr. Laura Bianconi said she’s gotten clear feedback from one group of people: her fellow physicians at the hospital. “Just running into physicians and even nursing staff at the hospital, people were very positive,” Bianconi said. “People came up and thanked me for the group doing this.” Bianconi, the medical director of the pediatrician group, said response from patients has been muted because the group’s doctors began warning patients about the change over the summer. She said the health care system has heard positive and negative feedback, although she believes the positive support has matched or outweighed the negative feedback. Bianconi estimated the change would affect 5 percent to 10 percent of the clinic’s patients, and she said doctors have worked to clarify they will not be denying patients who cannot get vaccines for medical reasons. Most commonly, Bianconi said she’s had to explain why the group adopted the policy, one she said they’ve been considering for years. “The simplest answer is: We thought this was the best way to protect the health of patients in our practices, especially kids 1 year old and younger who are too young to be fully vaccinated,” Bianconi said. “Those little people don’t have a voice. We felt, we’re their doctors, we need to be their voice to try to protect them.” The decision from Centegra, McHenry County’s predominant health care provider, is part of a growing trend. A November survey published in the journal Pediatrics found one of every five U.S. pediatricians regularly drops families who refuse to have their children vaccinated. Salud Pediatrics in Algonquin was one such provider. Manager Brandon Betancourt said the doctors at the practice are glad they made the decision in the spring to release unvaccinated patients. The policy only affected about 10 patients, Betancourt said, and the practice worked to identify those families and reach out to them before implementing the policy. He said the doctors empathize that parents are doing what they feel is best for their children, but felt strongly about the science behind vaccines and wanted to protect other patients. “It was an opportunity to have the discussion openly, that moving forward, if they didn’t go based on our recommendations, that’s a trust issue,” Betancourt
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