For Immediate Release – October 17, 2024
At its October 15 meeting, the Effingham Unit 40 Board of Education approved a tentative tax levy for the coming school year of 3.5083 with final approval at the November 18 board meeting. Over the past decade, the district’s tax rate has decreased from 3.627 to last year’s levy of 3.554. “If the County School Facilities Sales Tax passes, the board is also committed to utilizing 10% of the CSFT revenue in the first year to provide property tax relief to the taxpayers residing in the Unit 40 School District. That percentage of tax relief for residents would be revisited annually,” commented Superintendent Andrew Johnson. “So, if that proposal is successful, not only can we make nearly $48 million in facility improvements, we can also lower the tax rate paid by our property owners.”
If the County School Facilities Sales Tax proposal passes, the district plans to implement the first phase of its long-range facility improvement plan that was developed with extensive community participation. Those improvements would be financed with the new sales tax rather than attempt to fund a bond proposal with increased property taxes.
Board president Jill Wendling stated, “We are fortunate in Effingham County that more than half the revenue produced by this sales tax would come from interstate traffic. Compared to most counties in Illinois, our per capita sales tax revenue is quite high. What that means, bottom line, is that this tax could bring in the kind of revenue needed for the top goal on the district’s facility improvement plan which is to build a new Kindergarten through 2nd grade school.”
The CSFT was placed on the ballot by all school districts in Effingham County. All are committing to some form of property tax relief should the proposal pass at the November 5th election.