How is the yearly budget determined?
The first year’s budget was determined after careful consideration of the services needed within the area based on suggestions from property and business owners and Alderman Vi Daley. Once the possible list of services was compiled, bids were collected for each service. The bids were assembled and totaled to create the budget and the initial tax rate was set in response to the funds needed to implement these services. Similar to the first year, the commission creates a budget annually by determining a work plan, collecting the bids needed to accomplish this work and requesting a levy to fund the plan.
How is the tax on each property determined?
What is the yearly cost to any particular property owner?
The tax rate for each SSA is determined by that SSA’s establishment ordinance and is levied on every property within the SSA boundaries. The maximum tax levy rate for the Clark Street SSA may not exceed 0.175 percent of the equalized assessed valuation (EAV) of each property.
Can the tax be passed onto the business owner?
Based on the business owner’s lease, the tax may or may not be passed through to the business owner. If a business has signed a long-term lease or gross lease, it most likely will not be paying the tax. In other cases, the business owner may pay a portion of the tax based on the size of its space in comparison to the property. For example, based on a triple net lease, if a business takes up 25% of a building, the property owner would assess the business 25% of the taxes.
Can the budget be reduced to zero dollars in a particular year?
Each year the commission evaluates the services and programs that is providing. If they determine that the services provided by the Clark Street SSA are no longer needed, they can choose to not submit a new levy request for the following year and property owners will not be taxed. The commissioners may also decide to lower the budget based on the services they want to offer. The property owners would then be taxed at a lower tax levy rate.
