Your property tax bill is in the mail, and you can see your tax bill now by visiting the DuPage County Treasurer's web site (you can look up your property by address or property identification number). The first installment of 2011 taxes will be due June 1, with the second installment due September 4 (later than the standard September 1 due date because of the Labor Day holiday).
Despite falling property values, many homeowners will see property tax bills continue to rise as school districts and local government bodies continue to raise their tax levies. Wheaton-Warrenville School District 200 has a 2011 tax rate of 4.2812, its highest rate since 2002 (the 2010 rate was 3.9437, and the 2009 rate was 3.6497). The City of Wheaton's rate for 2011 will be 0.9183, which may be an all time high compared with 0.8631 in 2010 and 0.8270 in 2009. The Wheaton Park District rates for 2011, 2010 and 2009 are 0.6151, 0.5794, and 0.5372. Together these three entities make up 87% of the tax bill for most residents of incorporated Wheaton.
Regular readers of this column will know that in most cases, the taxing body does not actually set a tax rate. Rather, the taxing body levies a certain amount of money, which is then divided among all the taxable property in the jurisdiction. When property values are increasing, tax rates may stay steady or decline, as in the early part of the last decade, even though overall taxes are going up. But when property values decline, but tax levies continue to increase, tax rates will increase across the board, as has happened over the last several years.
