Schools to continue discussing proposed sales tax increase
To the community:
On Feb. 23, over a hundred O’Fallon-Shiloh community members met at O’Fallon Township High School to discuss the needs of our school facilities, our property taxes and some new ways to improve both. The topic of the engagement session was the Illinois County School Facility Sales Tax.
Illinois legislation allows counties to pass a resolution to use a sales tax to fund facility improvements and to reduce debt issued for school facilities. Historically any updates to facilities or new construction projects have been reliant on property taxes, and property owners. This legislation offers a paradigm shift as a sales tax can be used to abate current property taxes or improve school facilities.
A group of Superintendents, Board members, and community members has expressed an interest in knowing how our community would feel about this topic. Similar conversations are occurring in the schools all around St. Clair County.
School districts have been asked to share specific ideas regarding the possible use of the funds.
Plans will be shared at the March 22 Community Engagement Session. The plans will be specific to each district based on each district's needs. One district may decide to use the fund to improve safety and security such as upgraded camera systems and alarms, or a more secure entrance to the school. Another district might identify a need for HVAC updates for heating and cooling or roof repairs for example. Yet another might illustrate the need to resurface a parking lot for safety reasons. Or a district might identify the need to add on to a building that is beyond capacity. In addition to the needs in the school facilities, districts can reduce property taxes by paying down the debt incurred from previous construction or facility improvements.
O’Fallon-Shiloh Districts intend to use some of the revenues generated from this CSFT initiative, if pursued, to provide property tax relief to taxpayers. Property tax relief may be in the form of a reduction in the amount levied to make building debt payments and/or in the ability to avoid property tax increases to meet facility needs that must be addressed. Districts can refund outstanding building bonds with sales tax bonds and permanently remove those building bonds from the property tax rolls.
The CSFT cannot be used to directly support student activities, salaries or supplies. Funds must be used to construct or improve facilities, or pay off debt that was incurred to construct or improve facilities.
Whether you live in O’Fallon or Shiloh, please plan to join us on March 22 at Fulton Junior High at 7:00 pm to discuss this topic in further detail. We want your input and feedback.
Carrie Hruby
O’Fallon School District 90
This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Schools to continue discussing proposed sales tax increase."