Library District Taxes to See Increase

The Board discussed its 2011 property tax levy on Monday, resulting in a slight increase for residents from last year's bill.

The library district would levy $1,666,698 total, about $45,000 more than last year. Library Director Kate Hall didn't have a figure for what that means to the average homeowner, but said it would mean an increase of about $4.50 per resident (not per home).

About 97 percent of the library's $1.6 million budget comes from property taxes. The library collects about $2.4 million in taxes annually, but $930,000 of that is used to pay off bonds for the building. That will continue through 2018, at which point the amount of taxes the library levies will drop.

Hall said that the library will receive about $50,000 more in property taxes this year than in 2010-11. The library will also see a drop in expenses for health care (saving $35,000), its retirement fund (saving $12,000) and by switching maintenance to in-house (saving about $7,500).

Because of these changes, the , almost 10 years after it had to cut that day because of an inability to pay for it.

The library's property taxes account for about 2.7 percent of your tax bill, according to the village. The amount of the levy that goes toward the operating budget is $1.63 million, broken down into funds as such:

• $1.13 million for personnel (salaries, benefits, staff development)
• $209,988 for materials (supplies, computers, tech, furniture)
• $107,200 for overhead (dues, fees, copying, etc.)
• $100,000 for building maintenance payments
• $100,000 for Social Security and retirement
• $16,100 for programming