The property tax bill you received in May, for 2010 taxes payable in 2011, looks a little different this year. I would like to help you to understand it. It helps to carefully look at the tax bill as you read through this explanation.
The Library, which used to be a “village” library, converted on January 1, 2010, to a “district” library. Although most things stayed the same, the way taxes are collected is different.
Taxes paid to support the Library have always consisted of several parts, but two of the most important are taxes for “operations” and “pensions”. Most Library employees belong to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, and taxpayers pay a portion of those pension costs.
For tax years 2009 and earlier, these pension taxes for Library staff were lumped in with the Village of Lombard’s pension funds. The total amount was shown on the line marked “VLG OF LOMBARD PENSION FUND.”
When we became a library district, by court order, the DuPage County tax collector was instructed to transfer the Library’s share of pension costs from the Village to the new Library District. Therefore, if you look on the line labeled “VLG OF LOMBARD PENSION FUND”, you will notice an amount under the column headed “Tax 2009” to be larger than the amount under the column headed “Tax 2010”.
Since the “village” library no longer exists, and the new library “district” came into existence, the line that reads, “VLG LOMBARD LIBR” shows “NO LEVY” in the 2010 columns. That is because we are no longer collecting taxes as a village library.
However, there is a new line called “HELEN PLUM LIBRARY” showing a levy in the 2010 columns, representing both the operating and the pension taxes for the new library district. Notice there is no amount on that line in the 2009 columns, since the library district did not exist in 2009, and therefore did not collect taxes in 2009.
The dollar amount in the “Tax 2010” column (for HELEN PLUM LIBRARY) is higher than the dollar amount in the “Tax 2009” column (for VLG LOMBARD LIBRARY) because it now includes both the operating taxes, and the pension taxes.
Overall, however, if you add up all taxes paid to both the Village and the Library as a whole, the increase for both taken together is very slight. This is because of the transfer of some of the existing taxes from the Village to the new Library District.
I would be pleased to discuss this matter over the phone, or in person, with you if you have further questions, or if this is unclear. Call me at 630-656-6901.
