The Unit 5 and District 87 school boards and several other districts in McLean County have voted to put a sales tax referendum on the April 1 ballot. The proposed 1% sales tax would raise money for school facilities, school resource officers, and mental health programming.
Ten years ago, voters rejected a similar countywide sales tax proposal. Since then, District 87 Superintendent David Mouser said the rules on how to spend the money have changed. Schools can now use the money to pay for safety and security measures, and school resource officers. It also includes mental health spending.
“Specifically, after COVID we have seen so much of an increase in terms of mental health needs for kids that as we’ve had these discussions, we talk about offsetting revenues. To me this feels like an obligation to allow the public to decide, because it’s a way to offset costs,” said Mouser.
School districts cannot use the money on teacher and administrator salaries, desks and other equipment within a school building, said Kristen Weikle, superintendent of Unit 5, whose board voted Wednesday to place the question on the April 1 ballot.
Also, since the last referendum failed, more than half the counties in the state have created such sales taxes, including Sangamon, Peoria, Champaign, and Macon counties, Mouser said.
"When I go to an Illinois game, and I eat out before the game, I'm paying for their schools. I just think that as a resident of McLean County, I would like to see the same thing happen for our schools," said Mouser. “We believe that more than 35% of sales tax money collected in the county comes from people who do not reside in our county.”
Groceries and medication would not be eligible for the sales tax. Mouser said that lessens the regressive nature of the measure.
Gasoline, online sales and prepared foods are subject to the tax.
The District 87 board's vote on Wednesday was unanimous, but board member Courtney Turnbull was concerned to see gasoline among the items subject to the tax.
"My concern is the gasoline, because I feel like that's an everyday thing," Turnbull said.
The boards for several other school districts in the county also have approved putting the measure on the ballot next year. Revenue from such a sales tax would get handed out based on the number of students in each school district in the county. It goes first to the Regional Office of Education that distributes it to public schools within the county, said Weikle.
The bulk of sales tax revenue in McLean County comes from economic activity in Bloomington-Normal, which raises the question of whether Twin City residents would disproportionately fund school districts outside of those communities.
"I don't think I would look at it that way," said Mouser. "From our perspective, this is a collective countywide effort to be able to support kids and schools."
The tax would create an estimated $30 million to be divvied up among all schools in the county, said Mouser. District 87 would get an estimated $6.5 million. Unit 5 would get an estimated $16-20 million. Both districts said they would provide some property tax relief if voters created the sales tax.
“I don’t think we can do this unless we do that. That’s gotta be the tradeoff. We’ve heard so much over the past couple years, particularly with the property values increasing,” said Mouser. “I think we do need to provide relief.”
Weikle said a lot of that in Unit 5 comes in the form of property tax hikes. Unit 5 has cited a need to embark on significant facilities spending in the next few years. She said there would be some tax relief as well.
"We would be able to do that by offsetting the cost of school resource officers, mental health providers. We do have bonds out for health/life-safety work, and so we could use some of that money to pay off our existing health/life-safety bonds, which would help provide that relief," said Weikle.
In District 87, Mouser estimated the district would be able to lower the property tax rate by 20 cents per $100 of assessed value [EAV]. That’s about a third of the sales tax money raised, or $2 million. He acknowledged the board has not yet had the conversation about how much to abate.
Tax culture in McLean County
By putting the measure on the April 1 ballot, the school districts have assured it will come before a lower-than-average voter pool. Turnout in off-year elections is much reduced. And voters that do go to the polls tend to be older, who, by most studies over decades, are less likely to favor tax increase measures.
Weikle said the potential to lessen chances of success was not part of the decision to ask voters now.
“It’s really about the need and the opportunity," she said. Our board’s action allows the question to be asked of the community and our stakeholders. I do think this may be a unique election for Bloomington-Normal because we have a three-way race for the mayoral candidates seeking election.”
Municipal, county, and other non-school taxing body officials have often talked in the last several decades about a need to stay in their lane to minimize increases in property tax rates because schools rely so much on that revenue source. They have turned instead to sales tax money, though that is a more dynamic revenue source. Mouser said he does not think schools asking for a portion of sales tax money breaks that cultural norm.
“I don’t think so. We share that same desire. Our goal is to keep our tax rate steady or dropping lower,” he said. "Our unique situation now is that property values continue to increase, so while our rate has remained the same, that’s not what it appears like on your tax bill.”
Unit 5 referendum
Voters in Unit 5 approved a property tax referendum for the education fund just last year. The case was the tax rate would fall at first as bonds were paid off, also creating space for later needs.
“We have worked really hard to lower the tax rate, understanding the impact our residents face with increased property value,” said Weikle.
WGLT asked Weikle about the potential for voter fatigue and a perception hurdle on tax measures, regardless or the current direction of the tax rate.
“I think that’s where we’re going to have to provide factual, accurate information,” said Weikle. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to showcase the fact these funds do have restricted uses. It’s not a free-for-all.”
And if voters reject the referendum, Mouser pointed out the districts will still have to pay for mental health care and repair buildings.
“The story is relatively simple. We are going to have these expenses one way or the other,” said Mouser. “We’re either going to pay that as property owners, or we’re going to spread that out and that’s the decision that folks have to make.”
Tax levies
In other business, both Unit 5 and District 87 boards formally adopted property tax levies for 2025.
Unit 5 approved a $163 million levy — a 9.2% increase from the current levy.
Despite a drop in the tax rate, the value of a $225,000 home last year would be worth an estimated $249,000 this year based on average revenue growth, the district’s chief financial officer Marty Hickman has said, adding that homeowner would pay about $239 more in property tax next year.
District 87’s levy is estimated at $55.6 million. It projects growth in taxable land values to increase 7.75%, which also would enable the district to lower its tax rate.
The owner of a $225,000 home would pay about $53 less to the district, assuming no change in their property value. However, many homeowners will pay more because of sharply higher values due, in part, to the community housing shortage.