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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Martin S. Lyons, Chief Financial Officer/City Treasurer
Stacey Peterson, Asst. Finance Director
DATE: November 17, 2020
SUBJECT:
An Ordinance Levying Taxes for the City of Aurora, Illinois, for the Fiscal Year January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.
PURPOSE:
To facilitate the City Council's passage of the proposed 2020 property tax levies for the City.
BACKGROUND:
The city obtains the resources for its operations through a variety of sources. The annual property tax levy provides a major share of our revenue - approximately 20% of the revenue for all city funds and about 40% of the revenue for the General Fund.
35 ILCS 200/18-60 requires that each taxing district in Illinois determine an estimate of monies to be raised by the taxation of taxable property not later than 20 days prior to adoption of a tax levy. Estimates of the 2020 property tax levies for the city were included in the proposed 2021 City Budget released on October 28, 2020.
DISCUSSION:
Attached as Exhibit 1 is a schedule presenting historical information related to the city's annual tax levies, tax rates, and assessed valuation. Attached as Exhibit 2 is the proposed 2020 property tax levy ordinances for the city, respectively.
As shown in Exhibit 2, the proposed city tax levy totals $83,477,500 (including city debt service). This is $2,508,537 or 3.1% higher than the 2019 levy. The major source of this increase is a $2.89 million increase in the Police/Firefighter Pension Fund levies. This increase is approximately $700,000 less than the actuarially recommended increase of $2.29 million as recommended in the 2020 Actuarial Report from the City's Actuary Foster and Foster.
As noted above, the amounts of those components of the levy earmarked for the City's contributions to the Firefighters' Pension Fund and the Police Pension Fund were determined based upon actuarial valuations developed by the City's actuary. The contributions were calcula...
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