District 87 Chief Financial Officer Colin Manahan presented to the school board the 2018 levy for property taxes to be collected for next school year. (Photo by Howard Packowitz/WJBC) 

By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – District 87 administrators know the local economy is not growing very fast, but they were surprised to learn that one of the barometers of economic activity isn’t moving at all.

Stagnant growth is a drag on taxable land values, which is the largest source of school funding.

District 87’s Chief Financial Officer, Colin Manahan, told the school board Wednesday night that he and Superintendent Barry Reilly visited the county assessor’s office last week. They found out there’s virtually no activity in new home construction.

“One astounding fact that I found hard to believe, no residential building permits were issued or have been issued for homes. The only building permits issued were for Habitat for Humanity,” said Manahan.

“It wasn’t that long ago, builders were building homes everywhere in this community. Absolutely nothing is going on,” he added.

Manahan said the assessor’s office projected taxable land values will increase only 0.4 percent, but the district’s proposed tax levy assumes a two percent gain to ensure the school system will collect added tax revenue in case there’s a sudden surge in land values or other changes.

“We want to make sure, should there be any new developments or any miscalculations or recalculations of EAV (Equalized Assessed Valuation), that we don’t miss the opportunity to be able to collect property tax revenue from that change or growth in the EAV,” Manahan also said.

The district estimated it will collect $44,497,838 from property taxes next school year, up 1.69 percent from last year. Administrators said property tax bills will remain about the same, with a tax rate of $5.12 per $100 of assessed valuation, down three cents from the previous levy.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]