Township High School District 211 officials are planning $26 million in facility upgrades at its five schools, which, if passed by the Board of Education, will take place over the next few years.
School finance officials gave board members a preview of the 2012-13 budget, which includes construction projects across the district. Officials stressed the new expenditures will not cause a increase in the tax burden, as they are planned to happen after previous capital improvement debts come off the books.
“As expiring debt comes off, we will then issue the bonds, then we will maintain the debt service,” said Associate Superintendent David Torres. “If we were to issue debt on top of that, then it would be an increase. We are not doing that.”
Some of the planned projects are routine maintenance, such as repairing floors, replacing carpets and fixing doors. But others are much larger, such as a full replacement of the roof at Schaumburg High School and a new cafeteria kitchen at Palatine High School, which was installed in the 1970’s.
Torres is asking the board to take on debt for the projects. Board members asked if it would save more money to simply take from district reserves to avoid finance and interest costs, but Torres said taking out bonds is a better option.
District officials are concerned about late payments from the state and possible changes to funding, which could suddenly place a burden on reserve funds. Torres said it is preferable to issue bonds and pay them off over time.
Much of the work will be focused on Schaumburg High School next year, and Palatine High School the following year, said Steve East, director of purchasing and facilities.
The work needs to be spread out, he said, because “we can’t get access to all the buildings to do all the projects all at the same time.”
The budget is in its early stages, so many expenditures and revenue projects may change. However, the Consumer Price Index, which restricts how much school districts can increase property taxes, was announced recently at 3 percent, which is higher than the last few years.
Some residents have been seeing their tax rates rise faster than the CPI, and Torres said that is because more of the burden is shifting from commercial property to residential.
Commercial properties were paying 45 percent of the overall levy in 2007, hew said, but are now paying 38 percent, pushing more of the burden on homeowners. Torres said this is partially due to a spike in successful property tax challenges from commercial property owners, and the district has returned close to $28 million to those business owners.
The budget is in its preliminary phases and will come back for discussion in the coming months. All aspects, including the construction projects, need approval from the board.
Illinois problem is grave. Reportedly the 100 highest-paid school employees will pull down 1 billion in pension payments when they retire. The debate is not whether or not these government employees deserve this type of compensation, but whether its affordable.
When we look at the flag ship abusers of these posh pension & salary benefits, D-211 & D-214 are the clear leaders.
**Call your local school boards and ask them to stop gaming the system.**
Excessive salaries, benefits, health care benefits in retirement, and obscene pensions for educators, all do more damage than is readily apparent. D-211 is the flagship model of excess. Everyone knows that 70% of real estate taxes go to schools and that 85% of that is for educator compensation. However, not everyone realizes that a part of federal income tax makes its way back to teachers. Not everyone realizes that a part of their state income tax makes its way back as well. By the way, their pensions are exempt from state income tax.
Not everyone realizes that this spending drives tax increases and borrowing. Borrowing, of course, is just a deferred tax. Not everyone realizes that the bulk of health care and pension obligations is unfunded. This amount, of course, is also just deferred taxes. The money has been spent, but the revenue will not be there until our children and grandchildren are taxed to pay for it.
Dave Torres said,
“As expiring debt comes off, we will then issue the bonds, then we will maintain the debt service,” said Associate Superintendent David Torres. “If we were to issue debt on top of that, then it would be an increase. We are not doing that.”
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Dave,
Our property taxes WILL increase as a result of the additional $26 million you want to levy on property tax payers. D-211′s budget will continue to increase every year as it always does. When we add the increased budget to the new $26 million dollar debt and our property taxes will definitely go up.
As of 6/30/11, Dist 211 had a total of $143.8 MM in C&I, of which $11.3 MM were in the Debt service, Retirement and Cap Funds and thus restricted.
That leaves $132.5 MM unrestricted and with net expenses in operating funds of $196.6 MM
D-211 needs to use it’s tax reserves as an alternative to putting propery tax payers on the hook for another $26 million dollars.
Local business pays 2.5 times more than residential property owners pay. Business is leaving Illinois at an alarming rate.
News Clips
District 211 – Schaumburg/Palatine/Hoffman Estates
School district D-211 will be extending its debt to 2018 by selling $26 Million Dollars more in life safety bonds. This will have an impact on taxpayers by making our property taxes go up.
If you have a problem with this please call (847) 755-6600 D-211′s general phone number.
Please leave a message for the entire school board by asking them to vote NO on the new debt D-211 plans to take on.