Politics & Government

Rival Tax Chart Spoils Skokie's Ranking

Village is lowered a few notches as Evanston's data take issue with an earlier comparison.

When it comes to apples-to-apples comparisons, one town has chewed over the original findings of its tax ranking relative to the listed communities and has find a bad seed or two in the bunch.

As a result, Skokie may lose bragging rights about how low its taxes are in contrast to neighboring towns.

Last month, Skokie Patch and other Patch sites posted an article, "" The article, which found Skokie residents paid the lowest for property taxes and for such fees as water and sewer among the neighboring suburbs, was based on information provided by the City of Park Ridge.

Find out what's happening in Skokiewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Park Ridge analysis is released annually, ranking what residents of 13 nearby towns pay for municipal services each year. In that data, Skokie was ranked the second lowest in terms of taxes paid.

Not true, according to Evanston, whose recently released data put its neighbor to the west in the middle of the pack.

Find out what's happening in Skokiewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"By considering all the monies residents pay, including property taxes and fees, it attempts to create an apples-to-apples comparison and determine who gets hit hardest in the pocketbook," read the earlier Patch story.

But Evanston authorities contend that it wasn't an apples-to-apples comparison. They note their taxes include funding for the public library and park district--levies that residents of other municipalities pay via separate library, parks and, sometimes, fire district taxing bodies.

Evanston's assistant city manager, Marty Lyons, and its Administrative Services Department have that supposedly gives a more accurate picture.

Lyons was named the interim head of the department due to the . She officially begins overseeing the agency on July 5.

The original chart didn't show the whole picture, according to Evanston City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz, because many of the communities represented have separate park, library and fire districts that tax. Those things are all included in Evanston's property tax.

The new chart (posted above) indicates that Oak Park, whose residents pay city taxes as well as additional library and park fees, had the highest property tax rate in 2009.

In the Evanston analysis, Hoffman Estates and Arlington Heights had the second and third highest rates, respectively. It differs from the Park Ridge chart that had Evanston and Des Plaines in those spots.

The Park Ridge data compared things such as garbage and yard waste charges, residential water bills and city sewage charges, but not levies for such things as park and library services.

The new chart indicates that Evanston's ranking is lower, which means its residents' wallets aren't hurting as bad as those in other communities.


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