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Analysis of Taxation Practices in Illinois Park Districts by Charles Pezoldt and William Smith, University of Illinois—Champaign Are your park district tax rates typical? Are they changing? The answer to these questions may be learned by reviewing this study conducted at the University of Illinois, Urbana, recently. Annually the Illinois Associations of Park Districts publishes demographic information concerning park districts located in Illinois. For the second time, a study of taxing rates and assessed values has been undertaken to determine trends. Further, the current study compared findings of 1971 with 1973. All park districts were rank ordered by assessed valuation and then classified into four groups of equal number as follows:
Assessed valuation ranges were reported about the same as the prior study in the AAAA, AAA, and AA categories but saw the lower limit of the A classification increase from $358,000 to $1,235,000. The number of districts in each category increased about four. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS The most significant finding in this study was that in two of the four assessed valuation categories, a large percentage of the park districts were not levying a recreation programs tax at all (1/2 of the districts in the AA category and 76% of the A classification reported no recreation programs levy). In contrast, the 7.5 cent rate saw an increase in levy frequency in both the AAAA and AAA categories (the AAAA was up 13% and the AAA increased from 37% to 57%). No districts reported that they were levying the 12 cent maximum program levy. A 10 cent corporate rate was most typical of the districts in all four categories. CLASS AAAA PROFILE The class AAAA group represents 1/4. of all the park districts having the highest assessed valuations, thus, has the highest potential tax operating incomes. The median assessed valuation was $143,000,000 (up $7,000,000). Illinois Parks and Recreation 10 January/February, 1975 Most of the districts continued to levy the corporate rate of 10 cents however, the number decreased by 5 % from two years prior. The number of districts levying less than 10% also decreased about 5%. The greater number of districts (57%) were found to be levying 7.5 cents for recreation programs, up 13%. As in the previous study, no districts reportedly levied the maximum 12 cents rate. Complete details are given in Table I.
AAA PROFILE The class AAA group represents the 1/4, of the park districts which have the second highest range of assessed valuations. The median assessed value reported was $45,381,000 about the same as the prior study. Again, the highest percentage of districts were levying 10 cents for corporate purposes (69%). All corporate levies were about the same as the prior study (see Table II).
The recreation levy increased in frequency at the 7.5 cents level from 37% to 57% over the last two years. No one reported levying the maximum 12 cents rate. AA PROFILE This group of park districts, represented those with the second lowest assessed valuation with a median of $20,500,000. Corporate rates remained unchanged from the prior study. Almost half of the 67 districts in this category did not levy a recreation tax at all and another 12% levied below 5 cents. Complete statistics are given in Table III. A PROFILE The "A" group represents the 66 districts who had lowest assessed valuations ranging from $1,235,000 to $13,643,000 with a median of $8,513,000. Corporate levies increased in this category from 54% to 65% for those levying 10 cents and decreased from 11% to 3% for districts levying more than 10 cents for corporate purposes. Seventy-six percent of the districts are not levying a recreation tax at all. Another 4% are levying below the 5 cents rate. The 80 % numbered reported of those levying below the 5 cents rate is an increase of 36% over the prior reporting study. See Table IV. Illinois Parks and Recreation 11 January/February, 1975 |
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