The Finance Department received the first distribution of the 2012 tax levy in the amount of $2,720,642.21. Typically the first distribution is about 25% of the total levy. However, this year the City received only 12%. Per discussion with Dan Welch, Champaign County Treasurer, the lower distribution was necessary due to the impact of the recent ruling on the Carle Hospital tax exemptions. Although the City has been minimally affected by the court ruling that exempted Carle Hospital from paying property taxes, other taxing districts have been profoundly impacted by the $60 million decrease in value.
Because removing that much value at one time from the County’s tax system could result in the next distribution to the severely impacted tax districts being negative, the County made a smaller first distribution before the tax adjustments were made. This means the second distribution (in late June) will be higher, which should alleviate any potential negative distributions. The second distribution will be almost 40% of the total levy, which will result in about 50% of the total levy being received by the end of the current fiscal year. The remaining 50% of the levy will be received during FY2013/14, which is consistent with past years.