Property tax rates in Quincy are set to rise in 2019 after local aldermen banded together Dec. 17 to pass a 5.25 percent property tax levy increase as part of an overall plan to cover rising police and fire pension costs.
Illinois Policy Institute reports homeowners in Quincy are now on the hook for the increased tax, with lawmakers having even pushed for more in the form of a 13.8 percent proposed hike. A majority of lawmakers roundly rejected Alderman Mike Farha’s proposal to trim city expenses instead of increasing the property tax.
With Quincy’s average home value around $100,000, property owners in that municipality will now pay about $15 more in annual property taxes.
Alderman Mike Farha
Public safety pensions constitute more than 60 percent of the projected property tax levy for the city, and as recently as two years ago the Illinois Department of Insurance reported that on average the city had less than 50 cents for every dollar it needed to cover police and fire pension obligations.
Since 2008, Quincy’s contributions to its public safety pensions have more than doubled, to $3.9 million, with that obligation expected to rise even more this year to somewhere around $4.2 million.
“The fact of the matter is, our [pension] obligations as a city increase every year, and we have to identify ways to keep up with those obligations," Alderman Jeff VanCamp told WGEM-TV.
Quincy joins a growing list of local towns that includes Norridge, Highland Park, Carterville and Geneseo in slapping dramatic property tax increases on the backs of residents in order to fund public pensions.
A new state law requires municipal pension funds to be at least 90 percent funded by 2040.
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