Village Board Lowers Property Tax Levy by More Than $65K

Thanks to a strong income stream from the village's sales tax, reduced the property tax levy more than $65,000 at its Monday meeting.

The new tax levy drops to about $2.9 million from the original levy of about $3 million, . The new tax rate is .3392.

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The reason for the reduction comes from a greater decrease in the equalized assessed value of Frankfort homes than what village officials originally estimated late last year, said Mayor Jim Holland, adding that the board has made a commitment to continually lower property tax rates. The move means that homeowners will pay less next year on the village portion of their property taxes if their home value is the same or lower than the previous year, he said.

But what allows the village to make up for the property tax shortfall is its robust income from local sales tax, which is still one of the lowest in the South Suburbs at 7 percent, Holland said.

"It's really only sales tax (revenue) going up and people shopping in the village that allows us to do this," said Trustee Cindy Heath, who also heads the village's Financial Affairs Committee.

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Sales tax revenue for December, the most recent month the village has numbers on, hit $462,594, the second highest amount for that month since fiscal year 2005-06. Currently, Frankfort is projected to earn more than $4.5 million in sales tax for the 2011-12 fiscal year, said Village Administrator Jerry Ducay after Monday's meeting. That's about $300,000 more than the village budgeted, he added.

Although the village was lowering its tax levy, that didn't mean other taxing bodies in Frankfort would be adjusting theirs, said Trustee Todd Morgan. The village's tax rate is one of the smallest in a homeowner's overall property tax bill at 5 percent.