Steady as she goes regarding Heights property taxes
The Peoria Heights Village Board has adopted a levy that will keep property tax revenues and bills fundamentally flat for 2023-24.
At its meeting on Dec. 5, the Board unanimously levied a total of $1,052,090, compared to the $1,050,429 of the year before. The levy is split almost evenly between the Peoria Heights Library, at $533,570, and Village government itself, at $518,520. Most of the latter, $450,000, goes to pensions for police, though that number will rise in the coming years as the Village adds full-time firefighters.
The Village’s portion of the levy remains unchanged from the previous year. The initial request from Village administration came in almost $26,000 higher, but several trustees expressed an interest in maintaining their multi-year string of holding the line or decreasing property taxes paid to the Village by local residents and businesses.
Village government represents a relatively small percentage of a local resident’s overall real estate tax bill, with sales taxes accounting for the Village’s largest source of revenue by a large margin. The Village’s total budget is about $4.9 million annually.
Library Director Shawn Edwards said his levy was up just slightly, helped along by a sizeable donation of more than $316,000 this past year from the estate of Rudolf Habben, “the largest donation we’ve ever had at the library, period.” In the future, however, “I don’t know if that’s going to be the case,” said Edwards. “We’re talking about construction, remodeling,” specifically regarding the library’s roof.
Virtually all of the library’s revenues come from property taxes, though the system is seeking to offset some of its costs through grants, said Edwards