Lake County Gazette

At the Nov. 15 meeting of the Antioch School District Board of Education, the board heard from Chief Financial Officer Maria Treto-French, who discussed the tax levy for this year. 

“The final figures for the levy that we are presenting will be determined by the assessor, and that will be in the spring of ‘23,” Treto-French told the board. “Historically, we received the final extension numbers at the last week when spring break is here. So always be on the lookout because they usually give us four or five days to return our numbers and make sure that we allocate them the way that the district needs those funds allocated. So they give us a total and we could get some of those funds around, but pretty much they're set based on the rate that is locked in.

Treto-French explained that the district requests a specific amount of money from the county's taxes to fund the schools. The levy amount is determined by the Illinois school board code, the previous year’s rate, and the EAV of the properties. Sixty-four percent of district expenses are funded by the tax-paying bodies.

The district is a tax-capped district, meaning the district can only request at most 5%, even though this year’s CPI is 7%. The final amount is also determined by the county tax assessor, who will give the district its decided tax earnings in the spring. The money the district is given is called the extension.

Treto-French said the district expects to levy $31.2 million from the proposed levy. Because the board is not requesting any more than its 5% maximum, it does not need to hold a special public hearing or have any extensive discussion. The board will vote to finalize the proposed levy in December and file it with the county before December 27.

The district has a graduation rate of 96.3%

The board will meet again at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 1 at Lakes Community High School on 1600 Eagle Way in Lake Villa.