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What is a property tax levy?
A property tax levy is the amount of property tax dollars a school district requests in order to operate the district for the upcoming school year. This is done annually. This is not what the district will receive, known as the extension. Districts will be informed in the spring of what the district's extension is, based on the calculation of the actual equalized assessed value (EAV) and actual new growth of properties, which are unknown at the time when the board approves the levy in November of each year.
The District's actual Tax Levy increase is limited by the Tax Cap (Property Tax Extension Limitation Law, or PTELL), which limits the increased based on the lesser of 5.0% or the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the prior year, which CPI was 2.9% in 2024.
What is the 2025-26 Evidence-Based Funding Level for Wauconda CUSD 118?
According to the Illinois State Board of Education, Wauconda Community Unit School District 118 is funded at a 75% Adequacy Level in FY26. For Evidence-Based Funding from the State of Illinois, Illinois schools are analyzed based on a student enrollment driven formula for teachers, administrators, and support staff, etc. It incorporates regular education, special education, music, operational costs, etc. A school funded at 100% is capable of funding all aspects of the model. Our district's funding level challenges operations and motivates our Board of Education to capture all funding sources available to our students.
What are the different funding sources for District 118?
For all funds for Wauconda CUSD 118, the majority of our funding continues to be from local property tax:
Local: 71%
State: 24%
Federal: 4%
Other: 1%
Why is a property tax levy important for a school district?
Property taxes are the primary funding source for school districts. Each year the district requests a tax levy extension, or levies, in order to match the expenditure increases for the cost of living increases, service and material increases, and other expenditure increases. The amount of the tax levy increase is determined by a formula established by Illinois School Code.
The tax levy the Board of Education approves is not a final figure. It is a request based on the calculation of the previous year's actual extension (money received), the current Consumer Price Index (CPI), the equalized assessed value (EAV), of the properties within the districts boundaries, and anticipated new growth of properties within district boundaries.
What is a balloon levy?
District 118 has a tradition of ballooning the levy each year to ensure that it captures all new monies from anticipated new construction. As a result, the district has used a factor of 10.0% increase in its tax base, which generates a ballooned 44.22% figure this year. The chart below shows the levies for the last ten years, what was levied (the ask), compared to what was received, and the actual percentage of new monies received. It is important to note that the Actual Tax Extension for this year will be anticipated to be between 3.5% and 4.0%. Considering District 118's balloon levy since 2015 has averaged 24.38%, the actual Tax Extension (the overall extension received by the district) averaged 3.08%.
The Levy, approved every November, is the "ask" from the district for property taxes. It is important to realize that the Actual Tax Level Extension captures the actual increase in taxes, including new properties within our boundaries. Existing tax payers have their portion of the actual extension capped at CPI or 5%, whichever is less.
At the time the Levy is approved and submitted to the County Clerks, the New Property within our boundaries is unknown. Therefore, a balloon levy (the ask) is utilized to allow for unknown EAV and new growth to be captured.
Why would a district request a rate higher than what they believe the final figures might calculate for the actual levy?
If a district established a levy that is lower than the final figures released by the county, the district does not have a way of adjusting the levy to receive the additional dollars due to the district. Once a levy is filed, it can not be increased. The revenue lost from the lower request would be permanently lost and has a compounding effect on all future levies.
A district will request a rate higher than what might be anticipated in order to ensure they have the opportunity to receive all the money allowable by the law. As stated above, a district can not receive more than what they law allows the property tax level calculation, so even if the requested levy is higher than the results of the final levy figures, the district will only receive what is established by the final EAV and new growth figures.
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