Administrators in the Olympia School District in western McLean County say they are frustrated by county government’s efforts to fix an error in tax bills recently sent to property owners.
“Our attorneys are involved [with the county] and we are trying to remedy the situation,” said Olympia superintendent Laura O’Donnell.
Olympia recently notified school district families in McLean County that the county did not apply the new tax rate prompted by voters’ approval of a March 24 referendum.
At that time, voters approved a so-called tax swap that would have kept the rate at $5.50 per $100 assessed valuation, as old debt went off the district’s books.
The Stanford-based district was counting on $1.5 million per year in additional revenue and would have given Olympia its first balanced budget in a decade, O’Donnell said.
Olympia schools have about 720 students who live in McLean County out of a total enrollment of 1,750. The district also has students in DeWitt, Logan, Tazwell and Woodford counties.
“The other counties got it right,” O’Donnell said. “We’re not sure how McLean County got it wrong when that is the county that actually houses and manages the election.”
O’Donnell said McLean County responded that it would prefer to recoup that revenue in next year’s property tax bills, which would keep the district's current rate at $4.71, then raise the 2026 rate to about $6.25. That would be a nearly 33% increase.
“This was revenue that we were counting on and we don’t think it’s fair to our taxpayers to see a rate increase the following year when they voted for the $5.50 rate,” O’Donnell said.
Assistant superintendent Andy Walsh — who acts as the district’s business manager — said without the additional revenue, the district would have to spend down reserves and still not fill the shortfall.
“We would have to use fund reserves that we had built up that we were not planning on using," Walsh said.
O’Donnell said the district wants the county to send corrected bills to get the revenue this year. The first installment of those bills are due June 1. The second installment is due Sept. 1.
The McLean County Clerk’s office oversees property tax computations.
County Clerk Kathy Michael said the county could not comment because county officials are “still in the process of evaluating the situation.”
O’Donnell said she feels the county’s response to the error projects a lack transparency that could reflect negatively on the district, adding she’s waiting for more information from the county so the district can keep its taxpayers informed.
“That’s the other frustrating thing. It’s been about two weeks and we are not hearing what their resolution is,” she said.
