The Tinley Park Village Board voted Tuesday to raise the village’s property tax levy by 3.8%, marking the first increase since 2022 for the village that prides itself on keeping costs down for residents.
The levy of $32.2 million translates to about a $43 increase per household, officials said. The levy also includes a little over $6 million to fund operation of the Tinley Park Public Library, no increase from last year.
Trustees also voted to abate a about $5 million from the levy to pay debt service on outstanding bond issues. Without the abatement, the levy total would have been about $37.2 million.
Interim Finance Director Hannah Lipman said Tuesday abatements have saved property owners about $90 million over the years, as these debts would have been levied for property taxes.
“At the end of the day, the Village Board has been doing everything in their power to keep the tax levy down and make sure that it isn’t a significant impact to property owners,” Lipman said.
The board discussed the increase in November, citing rising costs overall along with rising post-employment benefit expenses.
Lipman said inflation costs and the general cost of doing business increased this year.
“Everyone is feeling it, and that includes the village,” Lipman said Tuesday. “We might be government, but that doesn’t mean that our prices and cost of doing business aren’t going up as well.”
Trustee Kenneth Shaw said in November that while the village budget is balanced this year, future costs are a point of concern and spending reductions alone won’t cut it.
He said post employment benefits are one of the fastest rising costs. The village spent just over $1 million on the benefits this fiscal year, compared to spending about $614,000 in fiscal 2023, according to budget documents.
These health insurance benefit costs are voluntary and are for certain retired, formerly full-time, personnel in the village’s health and accident insurance program, as defined in 2026 village budget documents.
The levy increase includes a required $5.74 million from the Tinley Park Police Pension Fund Board, a 4.9% increase over last year.
The required pension contribution has grown by $1.6 million over the past three years, or 35%, according to the levy memo. Village officials said because they have kept the overall levy flat the past two years, it absorbed these rising pension costs, but reduced funds available for other village operations.
Tinley Park officials have, at times, frozen the property tax levy to avoid adding financial burdens on households, a point of pride for local officials.
The board adopted a total property tax levy request in 2022 of a little over $31 million, covering the village and library. This represented a 3% increase from the previous year, but officials argued tax levy abatements that year reduced by the levy by more than $1.3 million, according to the Tinley Park website.
A levy increase in 2018 was the first since 2011, and officials stated at the time the increase might not result in higher individual bills due to a larger total property value base.
Tinley Park also increased a sales tax and an amusement tax in June that largely fell on concertgoers. The home-rule sales tax, now at 0.75%, will increase to 1% and the amusement tax, now at 5%, will increase to 6%. These hikes are scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1
Also taking effect Jan. 1 is a 1% grocery tax approved by village officials in May, substituting the elimination of the state’s 1% tax.
awright@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/17/tinley-park-property-tax-increase/
