school budget issues

Next Monday, the board will vote on the 2007-08 budget for Proviso Township High Schools (District 209).

The Forest Park Review encouraged everyone to study the document.

BTW, the State of Illinois may have fouled-up the system of collecting property taxes by not passing legislation in Springfield. See Phil Kadner (Daily Southtown), h/t Capitol Fax Blog (Rich Miller).

The state needs to pass legislation that sets the level of the property tax bills. The county can't determine the amount to bill property owners until the level is passed into law. And if the county doesn't get the property tax money then the schools don't get their property tax money, which is their primary source of income.

From a theoretical perspective, property tax revenue is supposed to the most reliable. The cyclical nature of the economy causes income taxes and sales taxes to fluctuate. However, property owners are expected to absorb the economic uncertainties with property taxes. That is, the property owner pays $X not matter if the economy is booming or in the doldrums.

From Kadner:

"I told my school districts that we can expect to lose $300,000 a month, or about $10,000 a day, just in the interest we would have made off of the property tax money, had we received it and put the money in an interest-bearing account," said Rob Grossi, treasurer of Bloom Township schools.

Finally, we know what the township treasurer of schools does. In weird budget situations s/he gives a quote to the newspaper.