Find the Tax Rate For Every Taxing Body in Palos

By now all homeowners in Cook County should have received their property tax bills. 

The following information is provided by the Cook County Clerk's Office and compares the year over year taxing rates of all local bodies. Tax rates are calculated by taking the amount of money levied by each district and the value of all taxable property within that district. 

Simple enough, right? Well here is where things get a bit trickier. From the County Clerk:

Each Cook County taxing body with a statutory ceiling has its levy adjusted to the maximum amount based on the statutory ceiling for the district and the previous year’s total equalized assessed value (EAV) of property plus the value of any new construction, or the current year EAV―whichever is less.

This calculation can restrict the agency from receiving the full amount of its levy. . . In accordance with the tax cap requirements of the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law, the revenue that agencies may collect is further limited, in most cases, to a 1.5 percent increase over the prior year’s extension. Next year, tax revenues will be limited to 3.0 percent more than the amount extended this year based on the Consumer Price Index released in January, 2012. 

In essence, taxing bodies often levy more than they are able to collect in order to account for changes in equalized assessed valuation or the consumer price index.

The portion of each body's budget that comes from property taxes varies as well. School district rely almost solely on property tax revenues, while cities and villages count it as only a portion of their revenue.

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Did your property tax bills go up or down this year?