Your school taxes - grab your wallet! (oh, too late)

Cal Skinner reports on McHenry County Blog about the tax rates coming your way.

What's up for Woodstock District 200 taxpayers?

"[Woodstock] SCHOOL DIST 200
"2011 – $5.85
"2012 – $6.90"

This is per $100 of assessed valuation, which commonly is one-third of the "Fair Cash Value", which isn't really the fair cash value. For one property I looked up, the Fair Cash Value for 2011 was $316,000. The property sold about five months ago for $200,000!!!

But look at the change in the tax rate - from $5.85 to $6.90. That's an increase of 17.9% - in one year!

Rep. Jack Franks was quoted in the Northwest Herald as having said recently that seniors are calling him every day about the possibility of losing their homes. I'll tell you where they should be - at the Woodstock District 200 School Board meeting and running candidates who will get the property taxes under control.

Recently I looked up the taxes on a nice house in Woodstock that could be purchased in Woodstock for $150,000 (the Dorr Township Assessor says the 2011 "Fair Cash Value" was $208,000). The property taxes? $6,500. The part that Woodstock District 200 scarfed up on the 2011 property tax bill was $3775. A 17.9% increase of $675 will bring the total up to a whopping $7175 for District 200 on the 2012 tax bill, and the owners don't even have any kids!

The D-200 budget for FYe 2013 looks like about $83,000,000. Are you getting your money's worth? Have you ever looked at the budget? Ever gone to a School Board meeting?