St. Clair County plans to increase spending and tax revenue. How will it affect you?
St. Clair County expects to collect almost 7% more in property and sales taxes in 2020 than it did in 2019, according to its newly proposed budget.
The preliminary budget for the fiscal year that begins Jan. 1 calls for an increase in both expenditures and revenue.
In November, the board set a tax levy of $75 million for 2020, a 5% increase over the current year. But the ordinance allows the county to abate a portion of that increase back to the taxpayers.
So what does that mean for property tax bills? It’s too early to tell.
County governments set property tax levies based on the maximum amount of revenue they need to cover their budgets for the coming year. But because the actual value of the property being taxed won’t be known until the spring when assessments are completed, they have to estimate the tax rate to complete their budgets.
Since property values in St. Clair County have increased, it’s likely that the estimated tax rate would produce more revenue than the county board levied in November, and it may elect to reduce, or abate, the rate so that it aligns with the budgeted levy.
Based on a projected increase in property values, that abatement is likely to come in April. According to projected property assessments, the county expects to take in about $37,877,000 from taxes and other revenue, a 6.79 percent increase over this year.
An estimated $9.2 million is expected to come from property taxes after abatement.
In the 2018-2019 fiscal year, St. Clair County Treasurer Andrew Lopinot said a resident who owned and lived in a home valued at $200,000 paid about $667 in taxes to the county. That doesn’t include what residents pay to the townships, their local municipalities, or school districts.
It won’t be clear how much a resident might pay in 2020, however, until property assessments are completed in the spring.
An additional $10.8 million in revenue is expected to come from sales and use taxes. Another estimated $11.4 million will come from licenses, fines, permits and fees. State income taxes, federal and state agencies, reimbursements and other miscellaneous revenue streams also feed the county’s budget.
Revenue is budgeted to be up from 2019 by 6.79 percent, or $2,410,384. According to the budget, the county expects to take in $447,405 more of property tax revenue in 2020 than it did in 2019 and an extra $516,950 in revenue from licenses, fines, permits and fees, along with other smaller boosts in revenue.
How tax money will be spent in 2020
The county government will spend roughly $3.4 million more next year, increasing from $35,138,684 in 2019 to $38,544,264 in 2020.
In the general fund, the budget calls for about $2 million more in spending than in 2019. According to the budget, that money will be spread out throughout many departments included in the general fund — the county boards general and administrative fund, human resources, the assessor, county clerk, auditor’s office and more.
The areas that will see the largest boosts are the county’s human resources operation, animal control, the county clerk election fund and sheriff’s administration. The boosts through those departments are a mixture of payroll and healthcare expenses.
Here’s a sampling of increases in the proposed 2020 budget:
- A $1.3 million more in county health and life insurance costs
- A $210,000 boost to pay election judges ahead of the 2020 election.
- $200,000 toward a Correction Academy training program for the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Administration
- $160,000 boost in payroll for full-time staff in the Sheriff’s Department.
Personnel expenses in the proposed budget are up $3.17 million, while non-personnel expenses are up $235,354.
A public hearing on the proposed budget, and its final adoption, is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 16.
From 2017 to 2018, the county’s equalized assessed valuation, or the assessed value of all property, increased by about $5.1 million, or by roughly 3.17 percent. The county budget is partially designed around what officials expect to collect through property taxes.
According to the St. Clair County treasurer’s office, the property tax cycle is a two-year cycle. Over the first year, the property is assigned a value reflecting its value as of Jan. 1. The tax bills are then calculated, mailed and payments are distributed in the following year.
Evaluation and collecting property taxes is a six-step process, starting with assessment and ending with collection.
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 5:00 AM.