Tax rate to remain unchanged for Shorewood
By Clare Walters Correspondent December 13, 2012 9:04AM
Updated: January 15, 2013 11:24AM
The Shorewood Village board is keeping taxes flat for residents.
The village board this week unanimously approved the village’s 2012 tax levy, which is designed to have little change for property taxpayers.
Finance Director Sue Berg said residents will be paying about the same amount they did last year for the village’s portion of their property tax bills.
“You’ll be paying the same amount or very close to it,” she said, noting the tax rate is based upon estimated figures.
The village’s equalized assessed value for 2012 is $478 million, a decrease of nearly 4 percent over 2011.
The decline is offset, however, by $10 million in new property, Berg said.
The village’s approved levy for the fiscal year that began April 1 and ends March 31 is nearly $1.5 million.
Trustee Dan Gron said village officials have worked to keep the village’s tax flat for several years now.
“That’s in our recognition of the times people are facing,” he said.
The village also rebates up to 25 percent of the village’s portion of residents’ tax bills. The rebate is offered as a trade-off for a 1 percent sales tax increase that was implemented two years ago.
To request a tax rebate residents must fill out an application and submit it to the village.
The deadline for application is Dec. 31, but Mayor Richard Chapman said he wants to extend the deadline because only half of the village’s property taxpayers have applied.
Berg said taxpayers have to apply in this first year of rebating to ensure that the village has a “clean” address to which to send the rebate check.
The Property Tax Rebate form can be found online at www.vil.shorewood.il.us or at the Village Hall, 1 Towne Center Blvd.
