The Flossmoor District 161 Board of Education voted to reclaim $1 million in taxes to avoid significant deficits or budget cuts over the next five years. It may consider the same approach next year.
The partial recapture of taxes abated through the 2025 Property Tax Relief Grant (PTRG) was a decision that the board has discussed in recent meetings. The board voted to keep taxes flat in recent years, including letting the more than $2 million 2024 PTRG completely fall off the district’s tax rolls last year.
Associate Superintendent Frances LaBella presented four options at the Nov. 17 Board of Education meeting. If the district raised the levy only in step with the consumer price index (CPI) and let the PTRG expire, it immediately would run a budget deficit. Under this strategy, the district would begin using millions of dollars in reserve funds to cover operating expenses each year.
LaBella also presented the board with options to either recapture the entire $2 million abatement this year or only a portion of it. The fourth option, which the board approved, is to recapture $1 million plus CPI this year and another $1 million at this time next year, when the $2026 PTRG expires.
Though the motion eventually passed unanimously, board members voiced concerns over actions that would raise taxes at a time when homeowners might already be experiencing tough times.
Board Member Cameron Nelson explained that they have little control over the increases homeowners receive from other taxing bodies and stressed that the district has set ambitious goals that will be tough to meet if they have to cut the budget, including the goal of helping 90% of district students become proficient in reading, math and science.
“I’m sure Fran and [Superintendent Dana Smith] and everyone else will put in a heroic effort, but we will never meet our goals” without additional revenue, Nelson said. “We’re not going to hit that 90%. We’re not going to close the achievement gap. Can’t talk about things like pre-K. We just can’t.”
Nelson told board members another option was to go to voters with a referendum to ask for more money, rather than the strategy they were currently discussing.
“For those of you who have neighbors and friends who might consider this an unpopular decision, we have avoided that. We have worked within the dollar figures that have been available to us for years without increasing at all on taxpayers,” Nelson told his fellow board members.
According to information LaBella presented to the board, recapturing the $1 million this year could result in a tax increase of about $229 for a home with a fair market value of $250,000. Under the current plan, board members and administration will reevaluate the district’s financial position at this time next year to determine whether to recapture a portion of the 2026 PTRG before it rolls off the district’s books.
