Mascoutah School District Lowers Their Tax Rate by Roughly 7% From Last Year

Matthew Stukenberg of the Mascoutah School Board explains the Tax Rate situation at the Tuesday, April 16 school board meeting.

Mascoutah — The Mascoutah School District announced at its most recent school board meeting that it would be lowering property tax rates specific to the school from 4.7771 to 4.4375, or roughly 7%.  Mascoutah School District already has one of the lowest school district rates in the county and with this decrease could soon be the lowest.

The Equalized Assessed Value of the school district is expected to be 15% more than last year. EAV is set by the County and is used to determine the amount of money available to a taxing body.  This means that the value of district property has increased and the school district is helping offset the property increase by lowering the property tax rate.  The district has remained committed to alleviating financial burdens on taxpayers. While individual homeowners may still experience tax bill increases due to rising property values, the district’s proactive approach aims to mitigate overall impacts on residents from the school specifically.

One other notable initiative discussed was the new pilot program that will reimburse a percentage of money lost from the Illinois Disabled Veterans Property Tax Exemption program.   The Illinois Disabled Veterans Property Tax Exemption program is a state initiative designed to provide property tax relief to eligible veterans and their surviving spouses. Under this program, qualifying veterans and their spouses can receive exemptions from a portion of their property taxes based on their military service and disability status. While the District is fully supportive of the program and all Veterans, the program has led to lost revenue for Mascoutah SD19.  Proactive measures, including advocacy efforts led by State Representative Jay Hoffman and State Senator Chris Belt, helped secure a pilot program to reimburse the school district for this lost revenue.  This pilot reimbursement program will offer reimbursement over two years, with the first year reimbursing 45% of the lost revenue and the second year reimbursing 90%.

More information on this and other topics from this week’s school board meeting will be seen in the next newspaper edition of The Herald.