Skokie trustees OK tax-levy hike, ending 35-year freeze

The Skokie Village Board voted 5-2 on Monday to raise the village’s portion of local property taxes for the first time in more than three decades. 

Village staff project the tax hike, which will likely hit property owners’ bills in March and August of 2026, will cost the average Skokie residence an additional $21.34 in annual property taxes. 

Commercial properties are projected to pay $57.56 in additional annual property taxes and industrial properties are projected to pay $137.35 in additional annual property taxes next year, a Nov. 17 presentation from Julian Prendi, Skokie’s director of finance, showed. 

The hike will provide Skokie $749,649 in additional annual revenue, a bump in reliable revenue that village staff said is needed to meet the rising costs of municipal services. 

But the decision marks the end of a 35-year-long freeze on increases to Skokie’s tax levy. The board voted in 1991 to freeze its levy for five years and has renewed that freeze every year since until now. 

Trustee Keith Robinson, who voted against raising the levy, alongside Trustee Kimani Levy, asked what new value the revenue will provide Skokie and whether village staff exhausted all other options for sources of revenue.

Village Manager John Lockerby said the new revenue will go toward maintaining the existing level of municipal services. As inflation has caused the cost of providing services to increase by 109% since 1990, the staff implemented a hiring freeze that “impacts” 39 positions, Prendi said. 

For example, Lockerby said, the village used to have three full-time animal control positions, but that service is now fulfilled by Skokie Police Department staff, causing some residents to say they don’t receive the same level of police service.

Village staff looked at other revenue options, like a videogame gambling tax, but determined they would not provide enough revenue, Prendi said.  

A property tax, he said, is also a more “equitable” source of income given Skokie’s large tax base, and more reliable in the case of economic downturns, as 73% of Skokie’s general fund comes from “sensitive” sources like sales taxes, real estate transfers and building permits which fluctuate.

“For 35 years, we’ve been looking at every lever that can be adjusted and we just have run out of levers to sustain the services that we have today,” Lockerby said. 

Kimberly Polka, a Skokie resident, said during the meeting that she moved her grandmother out of the village because she couldn’t afford her property taxes, but it’s “unrealistic” to expect the 1990 freeze to last forever.  

“Our property taxes are very low and I, like everybody else, don’t want to pay more,” Polka said. “But people were complaining on Facebook that their streets weren’t plowed fast enough two days after Thanksgiving.”

“I called today looking for an animal control officer and there were none on staff today,” Polka said, addressing Lockerby. “We cannot expect services and not expect to pay for them.”

Trustee Gail Schechter said the village’s tax burden used to lie more heavily on its commercial properties, so, moving forward, Skokie should pursue more ways to grow its commercial base. 

Trustee Kimani Levy asked how Skokie will avoid needing to raise its property taxes by a significant amount in the future, and whether Skokie can prevent the rising cost from impacting older residents or being passed down to renters.  

Prendi said Skokie has addressed its pension obligations — a significant factor in Chicago’s recent budget challenges — through bonds.

Mayor Ann Tennes noted 27% of homeowners who qualify for property tax exemptions in Niles Township have not yet applied.

“I don’t see this board doing that,” Tennes said of raising property taxes every year like other nearby municipalities do.

“Might we raise them again in the future? Maybe. But I don’t see it becoming something that’s done on a rote basis year in, year out.”

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