Belleville property owners to pay more in taxes for police and firefighter pensions

Belleville City Council voted Monday night to raise the city’s property-tax levy by nearly $900,000.

That will require a resident who owns a home or commercial building with a market value of $100,000 to pay $52 more in property taxes next year if equalized-assessed valuation (EAV) for the entire city remains the same, according to Finance Director Jamie Maitret.

If EAV goes up slightly, which Maitret expects to happen, the increase will be lower. If EAV goes down, the increase will be higher. St. Clair County will determine EAV next spring.

At a public hearing on Dec. 4, Maitret told aldermen that the tax-levy increase would be used to cover state-mandated payments for police and firefighter pensions and the rising cost of tort-liability insurance, which pays for workers’ compensation claims and civil lawsuits.

“The tax rate (with no EAV change) is still actually approximate to what it was in 2021 and still lower than what it was in 2018, 2019 and 2020,” Maitret said, noting that St. Clair County reassessed Belleville last year, and the city’s EAV went up “significantly,” reaching about $469 million.

The tax levy is the total amount of money the city collects in property taxes. The tax rate is the percentage used to determine how much property owners pay. The current Belleville rate is 2.4401%.

Property taxes are only one of several city revenue sources. Belleville’s annual budget is about $138 million. Employee salaries and most operational costs are funded by sales taxes.

At the City Council meeting on Monday night, all 16 aldermen voted for a new property-tax levy of $12,335,000, an increase of $897,155 (about 7.8%) over last year’s levy of $11,437, 845.

Pensions for retired police and firefighters make up more than 68% of that total, according to Maitret. Other programs funded by property taxes include Belleville Public Library, general community assistance and playgrounds, in addition to tort-liability insurance.

“(The budgets of) all those other programs that are funded by the property-tax levy are either remaining the same or being reduced,” said Ward 1 Alderman Bryan Whitaker, chairman of the finance committee.

One local resident addressed the tax-levy increase during a public-participation period at the City Council meeting on Monday night.

James Clarida, a teacher who bought his first home this year after renting apartments in Belleville for more than 20 years, argued that keeping property taxes low is a way to attract young families to the city.

Clarida pointed to Edwardsville’s recent decision to raise its sales tax a half percent, instead of raising property taxes, to cover pension payments for first responders and to maintain green space.

“(Raising the sales tax) is what Belleville should be doing to attract more young homebuyers,” he told aldermen. “Have those who shop and dine here foot the bill, not the homeowners.”

Edwardsville and Belleville both have city-operated fire departments with full-time, paid firefighters, unlike many smaller metro-east communities with volunteer operations.

Belleville Fire Department has 65 employees with an annual budget of about $8.3 million. Firefighters are unionized members of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 53.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation in 2019 to consolidate about 650 local police and firefighter pension funds from across Illinois under state management by mid-2022 to increase investment opportunities.

Belleville’s independent actuary determined that the city needed to contribute more than $874,000 to the funds next year to meet the state mandate that they be adequately funded by 2040, according to Maitret.

“We have a commitment with our pension system, not only with the fire department, but also for the policemen,” Belleville Mayor Patty Gregory said at the public hearing on Dec. 4.

“I hope that everyone understands we are not happy to raise a tax levy, we’re really not. No one on this council or any elected official is happy to do that. But we are a large city (about 42,000 people in 2020), and we do have protection that needs to be done in a city our size.”

After the City Council meeting on Monday night, Cliff Cross, director of economic development, planning and zoning, told Clarida that a city-operated fire department not only protects homes and businesses, it leads to lower insurance rates for property owners.

Ward 7 Alderman Phil Elmore called Clarida “spot on” for suggesting that officials look for new revenue sources to keep from burdening property owners and gave the example of self-storage and Airbnb fees that the City Council created earlier this year.

At the public hearing on Dec. 4, Belleville resident Michael Hagberg suggested that officials consider covering pension payments with revenue from a quarter-cent sales tax created years ago for the downtown streetscape project, whose bonds were paid off this year and whose fund has a half-million-dollar surplus.

Ward 4 Alderman Raffi Ovian believes officials made a mistake years ago, when they decided to allow police and firefighters to live in other cities because they’re not helping to support Belleville with property taxes.

“Belleville needs all the help we can get,” he said at the public hearing. “... I opposed (that decision and) I am not going to be ashamed of it. Those people who don’t live in the city, they need to pay a city earnings tax.”