Grundy Reporter

The superintendent of the Morris Elementary School District No. 54 told WCSJ FM 103.1 News that people need to understand the rising property values may account for a rise in taxes despite no tax rate increase.

Shannon Dudek, superintendent since June 2016 according to the School District No. 54 website, told WCSJ FM that the tax rate remains at $3.60, a goal that he had since becoming superintendent.

“People’s taxes do go up, and they go up because the assessment of their homes does increase,” Dudek told WCSJ.

Shannon Dudek, superintendent of the Morris Elementary School District No. 54, told WCSJ FM 103.1 News that increases in people's property values may cause an increase in their taxes, not the district's tax rate, which remains at $3.60. | Pixabay

“Now that doesn’t mean that District 54 is increasing taxes. Our tax rate has always stayed the same. The challenge, though, is whenever your taxes do go up, just really look at the tax bill and understand that when the appraisal and the assessment of your house is actually increasing, that will also affect your tax bill, but District 54 is not raising taxes. We are at $3.60, and like I’ve said, we’ve been doing that for five years," said Dudek.

Dudek told WCSJ that the district’s board of education has begun selling $2.25 million in working cash fund bonds to help pay for salaries and benefits. The action is a yearly process with a goal of increasing the district’s working cash fund, according to the minutes of the board’s Oct. 19 regular meeting made available on the district’s website.

“We want to make sure that we sell our bonds that we do every year in order to pay for salaries and benefits, but we’re always trying to really focus on keeping our tax rate as low as possible for our families in our community here in Morris,” Dudek told WCSJ. 

WCSJ reported that the “final levy will be approved next month.”

“We are going to have to have a truth in taxation hearing. Now if taxes do go above a 5% possibility increase over the previous year, you have to do a truth in taxation hearing. … I don’t think that our taxes will go above 5%, but since we’re so close, we are going to have one just in case," said Dudek.