Kendall County Times

Illinois state Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) has said he has a plan that would reduce Illinois property taxes by 50% over the next 23 years.

"Property taxes are a regressive tax that hurt Illinoisans who need relief the most," Batinick said in a recent release from his office. "A long-term plan to reduce them will spur economic growth everywhere. Instead of letting future pension payment savings be slowly whisked away into future budgets, let’s do something that will dramatically improve our future economic fortunes. Lawmakers talk a big game about supporting property tax relief, but nothing ever comes of it. Instead of letting future pension payment savings be spent on legislator pet projects, let’s target those savings towards property tax relief that will result in additional investment in communities and relief in everyone’s pocket. Let’s solve the property tax issue with a strong foundation of pension reform." 

The representative has proposed a plan to reduce Illinois property taxes by 50% over the next 23 years by redirecting savings from reduced pension payments. A summary of the plan posted on his website outlines his reasoning on why Illinois has turned the corner on the issue of unfunded pension liability, and it goes on to explain how that could benefit property tax relief. As a percentage of the state budget, pension payments peaked at 29.4% in FY 2017 and have been decreasing since then. The payments are scheduled at 22.9% next year and should drop to 18.5% by 2045.

Batinick's plan suggests allocating 25% of the budget to "the traditional pension payment and a new property tax relief component," and if the pension payment is less than the full 25%, the difference in funds would be put toward property tax relief. The property tax relief funds would be distributed among school districts on a per-pupil basis, and taxes would then be reset to account for the relief.

"This plan would designate nearly $1 billion in property tax relief in the next fiscal year," Batinick said in the release. "Using the formula in my school district would roughly equate to a 4% reduction in Property Tax Year One. By 2046, we will be able to designate 20% of the budget to property tax relief. If we could do that now, that would equate to approximately $4,000 per student. Imagine how much that would lower property taxes! Obviously this would vary per district, but lower income areas should see the most relief."

Illinois' property tax rate is the second-highest in the nation at 2.27%, behind only New Jersey; a June report by Rocket Mortgage said. The owner of a $194,500 home in Illinois will pay $4,942 annually in property taxes. Thirty states have property tax rates lower than 1%.

Kendall County's property tax rate was 0.4127% as of 2021, data from the Kendall Appraisal District showed.