On September 9, the county board approved a proposed 2026 levy increase of 7.57% and set the date for the Truth-in-Taxation (TNT) meeting for Tuesday, December 2, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. in the Commissioners Room at the County Courthouse.  It’s worth noting that the county levy cannot be increased from the proposed increase of 7.57%, but it can be decreased.

State law requires that all counties hold a Truth-in-Taxation meeting at which the county budget and levy will be discussed and at which the public is allowed to speak. This meeting must occur before the county can approve its final budget and levy. State law also requires the auditor to deliver a Notice of Proposed Taxes to each taxpayer as listed on the county’s current assessment roll prior to the Truth-in-Taxation meeting. The auditor’s office will mail these notices the week of November 10.  The purpose of the TNT meeting is for the public to hear about and speak on the proposed 2026 budget and levy. It’s not to discuss property valuation and classification. Property values are a key factor in determining tax impacts, but taxpayers need to address their values earlier in the year.  Tax values are set on January 2 each year for the following year’s taxes. Taxpayers have forums for discussing property valuation. Those meetings are held in the spring of each year so keep an eye out for notices of valuation for 2027 taxes payable sent out by the Assessor’s office in late March or early April of 2026.

The largest impacts to the county’s proposed 2026 levy include a 2.75% cost of living wage increase, an 11.8% increase in health insurance costs, the 2024 Deferred Maintenance bonds and the 2025 Jail bonds. In 2025 we were able to use American Rescue Plan funds to make the Deferred Maintenance bond payment. The bond issues have a combined impact of $929,000 on the 2026 county levy. High construction costs have affected the size of those bond issues.  The health insurance increase added $235,912 to the budget. There were also ten department requests for additional resources totaling about $444,000. Those requests included snow-blowing equipment, an increase to the community center capital replacement schedule and one shared position. The budget also includes the new state required Paid Family Medical Leave expense.

The county money market and investment revenues have continued to benefit from higher than usual interest rates in the years since the COVID outbreak. These funds have added to our fund balance and give the board flexibility for dealing with levy increases. The other side of that equation is the higher interest expense for these new bond issues.  If rates continue to go down, we will see less investment earnings, but we also may be able to refinance these bond issues at the appropriate time. 

The county will discuss the 2026 budget at the November 12 Board of Commissioners meeting (the meeting is on Wednesday due to Veterans Day falling on a Tuesday this year). That leaves November 25 and December 2 for further budget discussions with a final budget and levy approval by the board of commissioners expected at the December 16 meeting, following the TNT meeting the evening of December 2.    

Taxpayers should also know that if voters approve the ISD 166 Bond Referendum on November 4, that result will not be reflected in the Notice of Proposed Taxes. Check out the ISD 166 website to see the estimated effect of the referendum on your taxes.

County Connections is a column on timely topics and service information from your Cook County government. Cook County – Supporting Community Through Quality Public Service.