On Dec. 12, village trustees in Brookfield unanimously voted to approve its 2011 property tax levy extension request, submitted annually to Cook County.
The request for $10 million represents a 4.4-percent increase over property taxes collected in 2011 for tax year 2010. Non-home rule government agencies in Illinois, like Brookfield, are limited in their ability to raise taxes annually.
Property taxes can be raised no more than 5 percent or the level of the consumer price index (CPI), whichever is less, without going to referendum. Most governments ask for levy extensions each year to fund increases in operational expenditures, like salaries and pension benefits.
The tax levy request includes both the village of Brookfield and the Brookfield Public Library. Of the $10 million sought, $7.9 million would go toward village operations, while $2.1 million would go to the library.
Brookfield will likely receive less than it has requested, since the CPI for 2011 is 1.5 percent.
Doug Cooper, Brookfield’s finance director, said he budgeted for a 2-percent increase in the tax levy for the village. That kind of increase would bring in about $160,000 in additional tax revenue in the 2012 fiscal year compared to the $274,906 the village would receive if it got the full 4.4-percent increase.
In 2010, Brookfield asked for a property tax levy that would have brought in $9.9 million. In the end, the village received $9.6 million.
-Bob Uphues
