Village Finance Committee Recommends to Lower Tax Levy

It's not a binding decision, but village officials said they're intent on not raising the tax levy for 2011.

The Frankfort Finance Committee recommended Wednesday to set the 2011 tax levy at $3,043,530, a decrease of $83,660 from the 2010 levy. The levy now goes before the Village Board for approval at its Dec. 5 meeting, and a public hearing will be held before that.

Even though the equalized assessed value figures for Frankfort Township and Will County continue to drop, the village is able to reduce the tax levy because of it's overall conservative financial management, said Village Administrator Jerry Ducay. That's kept Frankfort low on debt and high on cash in the bank.

And although property taxes are an important revenue stream, it's not the village's primary source of income. That belongs to the village's sales tax, Ducay added.

Mayor Jim Holland, , said decreasing the levy is the right thing for the village to do, given the difficult financial times residents are facing. If needed, the officials were look at reducing expenses and operating costs in order to keep a decreased levy, he added.

However, Holland did warn that the village cannot continue to keep decreasing the tax levy.

"At some point, people need to know that we're going to have to raise property taxes," he said, with Village Administrator Jerry Ducay saying that that eventuality probably won't happen for some years to come.