Where your property taxes go

Today I'd like to talk about the size of the various taxing bodies on Oak Park. As a reminder we have the Village (municipal services, fire, water, police, roads), the Library, D200 (highschool), D97 (elementary), the Township (senior services and mental health), and the Park District.

Most of these derive their revenue almost entirely from property taxes. The school districts do get some money from the state, but Illinois is notorious for its exceptionally low levels of state funding. The one notable exception is the Village. The Village has ‘home rule’ authority, which allows it to levy all sorts of other taxes. It also derives revenues from fees, state and federal grants, licensing, and tickets.

For 2023, the Village is estimated to spend about $200 million dollars, but will only raise about $38 million in property taxes. So only about 20% of its spending is covered by property taxes. This makes the Village stand out among its peers. It and it alone is capable of raising funds far beyond property taxes. This is a good thing, because if it had to raise the entire $200 million from property taxes alone our tax bills would be much larger.

Let's look at each taxing body's share of property taxes. In 2023, all six taxing bodies raised a total of $229 million in property taxes. Together, the school districts (D97 and D200) took 70% of that money, totalling $160 million. The Village took 17% of the levy for $38 million. The Library took 5% at $11 million. The Park District took about 5% for $12 million, and the Township rounds this out at a tiny 2.7%. See the chart below if you like pictures instead of words.

What really stands out is how large a share the school systems take. A friend of mine often says that, to a first approximation, Oak Park is a school system with a fire department.

Though the Village gets significant heat for its spending, it comprises only 17% of the total levy. About 35% of that amount is dedicated to police and fire pensions, which are non-negotiable. That leaves the Village at only about 10% of our levy, yet the bulk of the online discourse about local taxes centers on the Village. This doesn't make a lot of sense. Though it does have the biggest budget of all the taxing bodies, you and I aren't paying for most of it in our property taxes.