Right after this year’s real estate tax bills arrived in mailboxes, McHenry County Blog showed how school districts’ tax levies compared with the previous two years’ levies.
A Friend of McHenry County Blog did the heavy lifting in manipulating this data.
Today, we look at not at how bills compare with the year before, but how property taxes vary from school district to school district.
Specifically, what appears below are
- equalized assessed value per pupil
- the 2016 tax rate
- property taxes per pupil
| McHenry County School Districts 2016 | |||
| Property Tax Comparison | |||
| DISTRICT | EAV per Pupil | Tax Rate | Property Taxes per Pupil |
| Nippersink Grade Sch 2 | $277,223 | 4.21 | $11,036 |
| Fox River Grove Grade Sch 3 | 195,984 | 6.32 | 12,641 |
| McHenry Grade Sch 15 | 214,518 | 5.85 | 11,266 |
| Riley Grade Sch 18 | 325,377 | 4.00 | 12,984 |
| Cary Grade Sch 26 | 234,021 | 4.75 | 10,306 |
| Harrison Grade Sch 36 | 150,832 | 7.66 | 11,084 |
| Prairie Grove Grade Sch 46 | 295,010 | 4.91 | 14,262 |
| Crystal Lake Grade Sch 47 | 220,462 | 4.65 | 9,676 |
| Marengo-Union Grade Sch 165 | 207,943 | 3.53 | 7,403 |
| Marengo High Sch 154 | 439,249 | 3.42 | 14,660 |
| Crystal Lake High Sch 155 | 398,149 | 3.09 | 11,863 |
| McHenry High Sch 156 | 446,929 | 2.89 | 11,932 |
| Richmond-Burton High Sch 157 | 455,735 | 3.89 | 16,028 |
| Johnsburg Unit Dist 12 | 168,551 | 6.93 | 11,142 |
| Alden Hebron Unit Dist 19 | 187,868 | 5.99 | 10,238 |
| Harvard Unit Dist 50 | 90,939 | 7.33 | 5,863 |
| Huntley Unit Dist 158 | 122,083 | 5.97 | 6,926 |
| Woodstock Unit Dist 200 | 118,773 | 8.22 | 8,977 |
| Algonquin Unit Dist 300 | 139,637 | 6.72 | 8,756 |
| State Average | $229,713 | 4.34 | $8,622 |
| Chicago | $184,558 | 3.66 | $6,711 |
There are three types of school districts:
- Unit school districts which educate kindergarten through 12th grade
- Elementary school districts that educate kindergarten through eight graders
- High school districts, educating 9th through 12th graders
The unit highest tax rate, as Susan Handelsman frequently reminds readers of the comment section, is in the Woodstock School District–$8.22 per $100 of assessed valuation.
The lowest unit district is Huntley at $5.97 per hundred dollars of assessed valuation.
Looking at grade schools, the lowest is the Marengo-Union Elementary School District at $3.53.
The highest is Wonder Lake’s at $7.66 per hundred.
The highest tax rate for a high school district is $6.93 in Johnsburg.
The lowest is McHenry’s $2.89.
Comparing apples to apples (low to high):
GRADE SCHOOLS:
$7400 Marengo/Union
$12980 Riley
HIGH SCHOOLS
$11860 Crystal Lake
$16030 Richmond/Burton
UNIT DISTRICTS
$5860 Harvard
$11140 Johnsburg
Why such great variation in property taxes per student in grade schools, high schools
and unit districts. The largest variation is between Riley and Marengo/Union. These
Grade schools are in the same relative area. Why are taxes, and costs, per student
significantly higher in Riley vs Marengo/Union? Can a teacher, principal or
Superintendent from these schools anwer this question?
Also, Johnsburg unit district is double the cost of Harvard. Why?
Johnsburg is a consolidated school district so you can’t break out just the high school. They just p[assed a referendum a few years for construction.
These appear to be the 2014 rates for taxes collected in 2015. They’re 3 years old.