Although nothing is official, some taxpayers could pay less next year on their property tax bill to Sycamore School District 427 than they did this year, according to district documents.

On Tuesday, the Sycamore school board voted to schedule a public hearing in November to give residents a chance to weigh in on the district’s preliminary proposal for the 2025 property tax levy.

The current iteration of the property tax would increase the district’s levy extension by 3.88% to about $46.9 million, records show.

Even though the amount of money the district plans to collect with the levy could be increased from the 2024 amount of about $45.2 million, officials said taxpayers could owe the district a smaller amount than last year on their 2025 property tax bill, which will be due in 2026.

In a presentation on the proposed 2025 property tax levy to the district’s business services committee on Oct. 14, officials estimated that the owner of a $300,000 Sycamore property would be taxed $5,092 by the school district on their 2025 bill.

That total is $195 less than what officials believe would have been paid by the owner of a $300,000 house on the 2024 bill.

A property tax bill would only be reduced at that rate if the value of the property doesn’t increase, however.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Services Nicole Stuckert did not give that presentation to the Sycamore school board when it met Tuesday night.

The 2025 property tax levy extension proposal was included in the agenda of the board meeting, which lasted more than 3.5 hours. But the first action necessary for the proposal was considered, discussed and voted on in 68 seconds.

During that minute, school board President Michael DeVito said the presentation already had been seen by some district stakeholders.

“We received this presentation. It is publicly available, and it was presented to the business services committee,” DeVito said. “It carries with it the recommendation of the business services committee that we approve this tentative levy.”

The tentative 2025 tax levy was unanimously approved Tuesday by the Sycamore school board in a 6-0 vote. Board Vice President Christian Copple was not present.

School officials assumed a 2.9% consumer price index when they made their property tax levy recommendation, according to district documents. They also estimate that $10.5 million worth of new construction has been added to the amount of property the district can tax.

That pool of property – called the equalized assessed value of taxable property within school district limits – is estimated to have grown by 6% from the 2024 total of $853.2 million, according to district documents.

If the proposed Sycamore school district property tax levy extension is approved, the district’s property tax rate would be reduced by about 0.12%, from 5.29% to 5.17%, according to district documents.

A public hearing on the tentative property tax levy is expected during the Nov. 25 board meeting. The school board could vote on the matter that evening, according to the district’s timeline for the tax levy.