(The Center Square) – A property tax error in McLean County mistakenly reduced tax rates for Ridgeview and Olympia school districts, leading to lower-than-expected tax bills.

School officials warn it could disrupt financial planning, while one taxpayer, Dean Fletcher, said the mistake was “a blessing.”

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“It’s just a blessing from the Lord that they didn’t have to pay that property tax increase as quickly as they otherwise would have,” said Fletcher. “There was some discussion that they’d just pay the difference on top of next year’s bill. The school districts whined about the lack of increased income they expected to get starting in July. So yes, the taxpayers will pay it eventually, but they got a momentary reprieve – which is a blessing of sorts.”

Certified letters from the McLean County Treasurer went out June 4, with corrected bills coming this week. The extra tax will show in the second installment. Olympia raised its levy to a total of 8.85% and passed a 2024 referendum to prevent rates from dropping after bond payoff, just like Unit 5 did in 2023, according to Fletcher.

“And since 2019, their [Olympia] enrollment has dropped about 7%. Their enrollment’s down over 100 students, which is about what Unit 5 is about 6% over the same time period,” said Fletcher. “And District 87 is down 15% over the same time period. But their expenditures since 2019 have increased.”

Taxpayers in Olympia CUSD and Ridgeview CUSD will have an additional 30 days to pay the second installment of their taxes without incurring penalties.

Fletcher questioned why the districts were so persistent on correcting the error.

“They start getting the sales tax revenue, I think they’re planning to get it in October. They were already getting more money in, but they didn’t know if they were going to get it or not because April 1st, that’s when it got approved,” said Fletcher referring to a recently passed sales tax hike for all McLean County schools. “When they made the budget last year, they didn’t make it with the sales tax taken into account because they had no idea if it was going to pass. They were getting extra money.”

McLean County Treasurer Rebecca McNeil told The Center Square the county performed extensive due diligence with their software provider and arranged for the correction to be performed this year, as allowed in Illinois statute.

Fletcher suggested the districts panicked because they’re getting maybe slightly less money from the state of Illinois.

“And then Olympia, in fiscal year 2023, they got $3 million from the federal government. So potentially they’re worried about reductions in grants and spending from the Department of Education,” said Fletcher. “If it is true that there is a legal ability, the state law allows for them to reissue those property tax bills, that’s probably why they [Olympia] pushed so hard. I’m sure there were some lawyers talking back and forth.”

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Both school districts notified the public of the error in a letter saying, “The complete abatement of our bond rate on this year’s tax bills undermines the planning we’ve done to ensure long-term fiscal responsibility without placing additional burden on taxpayers. We are actively engaged with county officials to seek clarification and correction, and to ensure taxpayers receive accurate billing in a timely manner.”

Property owners outside of these two school districts are not impacted by this change.