|
 Real estate agent Andrew Carlin knows Illinois’ property tax
math all too well. He not only makes his living helping people buy and sell
homes, he’s also a homeowner.
He purchased his 1,000-square-foot home in Lake County in 2016. Back then, the
annual property taxes were about $2,500. The next year his bill jumped to
$4,500. By 2021, Carlin’s property taxes hit $7,000.
“In Lake County, the property tax amount is a major driving factor in
affordability and a buyer’s decision on purchasing a home,” Carlin said.
“We love where we live, not because of the municipal services,
but because we grew up here and our families are here. We’re on the edge of
selling and moving to a different community or a different township or a
different county that has less government bodies that are funded by property
taxes. That means going over the border right now to Wisconsin or potentially
going to McHenry County in an unincorporated area.”
So where is property tax money going?
The reality is that tax dollars are getting diverted away from the things people
value – like schools and public safety – and being spent on public pensions
instead. Total residential property taxes in Lake County have increased 122%
from 1999-2019 (51% when adjusted for inflation).
Only 19 percent of municipal property tax dollars raised for fire departments is
spent on protecting the community from fires. Residents saw funding to fire
departments cut by $1.3 million while funding for fire pensions increased by
$13.8 million from 1999 to 2019.
The pension crowd-out problem is the same for police
departments. From 1999 to 2019, Lake County property taxpayers spent an
additional $32.2 million on police, but pensions consumed a vast majority of
these funds. About 84 cents of every additional property tax dollar for
municipal police departments in Lake County – more than $27 million – went to
pensions rather than police protective services.
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People like Carlin love Illinois. It’s home. So
it’s disheartening to see people fleeing, either because they’re
forced out because their home is becoming unaffordable or they’re
losing confidence that Illinois is a place where they can prosper
long term.
“I’m used to a business where I’m helping clients
sell their starter home or their forever home, and buy their move-up
home or downsize home,” Carlin said. “The last nine months have been
the most odd as far as the amount of people selling their home and
not buying, which means they’re selling and leaving for other
states.”
This is a huge problem for Illinois and one that politicians must
fight to reverse. And the change has to come from Springfield.
Pension reform is the only way to make sure property taxes don’t
spike again year after year as the cost of public retirements
continues to grow out of control.
The Illinois Policy Institute has proposed a constitutional
amendment that would protect what workers and pensioners have
already earned while controlling the growth in future benefits. That
amendment was filed in the General Assembly in 2020 as House Joint
Resolution Constitutional Amendment 38, but was not voted on or even
debated in a committee hearing, in part because the legislative
session was cut short by COVID-19.
Recent polling from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute found 51%
of Illinoisans support “an amendment to the Illinois Constitution
that would preserve state retirement benefits already earned by
public employees but would also allow a reduction in the benefits
earned in the future, whether by current or future employees.”
 Lawmakers have the will of the people when it comes to getting
pensions under control. Now it’s time they find the will to do
what’s right and tackle pension reform. |
