Taxes

Many good things happened in our city this past year. Here are some highlights:

The City has begun discussing the 2018 Property Tax Levy. The levy is the total amount of property taxes the City collects to perform the services it provides to the citizens of St. Charles. The levy pays for 24/7 police, fire and public works services, infrastructure enhancements/maintenance, planning, engineering and much more.

The City is considering keeping the tax rate the same as it was in 2017. Below are common questions and answers regarding property taxes paid to the City.

Determining the property tax levy is a multi-step process that incorporates several public meetings which allow for citizen input. That process kicked off at the Nov. 5, 2018 City Council Meeting with a presentation about a preliminary estimate of the 2018 property tax levy. 

The levy is the total amount of property taxes the City collects to perform the services it provides to the citizens of St. Charles. The levy pays for 24/7 police, fire and public works services, infrastructure enhancements/maintenance, planning, engineering and much more.

Beginning Sept. 1, the City’s alcohol and hotel tax rates increase 1%, and a new local fuel tax of $0.02 per gallon sold within City limits will be implemented Nov. 1. These taxes are sometimes called “user fees” because they affect users of the items, in this case both visitors to St. Charles and residents.

These new taxes will fill an unexpected gap in our budget, caused by two continuing issues: a continuing loss of State funding and a property tax levy that has remained unchanged since 2009.

Often there are misconceptions about property taxes. For example, who collects them, who distributes them and who gets what.