Copyright Joliet, IL Patch
The district said it plans to make taxpayers whole. An official apologized and took responsibility. LA GRANGE, IL – La Grange School District 105 mistakenly overcharged property taxpayers by nearly $2 million this year. The district plans to make taxpayers whole with its tax levy for next year. The school's business services director, Steven Smidl, took responsibility for the error and apologized. "That was my mistake," he said at last week's school board meeting. "I have to truly live with that." In an interview with Patch, Smidl said, "This was all done by me. I've personally felt the weight of this." This week, the district is mailing out a letter to residents to explain the situation. The error resulted in a taxpayer with a $500,000 house paying $312 more in taxes than what the school board intended. The district is lowering its tax levy next year to offset this year's hike, plus another $195,000 for any potential lost interest or change in market value, officials said. The mistake, which the district discovered last month, involved debt payments for two bonds. Late last year, the school board decided to cut the property taxes designated to cover those payments – a process known as "abatement." This reduction in taxes amounted to nearly $2 million. The money was to come from the district's operating account, rather than from property taxes. In the letter to residents, Smidl, who was hired in 2024, said he misunderstood the final step for the abatement in filing the levy resolution with the Cook County clerk last December. Information on the bonds was attached to the district's tax levy calculation, which was submitted to the clerk, he said. "With the new form that was developed by the County Clerk, I thought that the bonds were listed just as informational," Smidl said in a memo to the board. "However, the bonds needed to be identified as zero to not affect the total (tax levy)." In the public letter, he said, "There was no intention of increasing your tax bills, especially with the current state of inflation and ongoing costs." The district plans a special board meeting on the issue at 6 p.m. Nov. 17 at Gurrie Middle School. Smidl plans to answer the public's questions, but he asked residents not to hesitate to contact him before that. In a memo last month to the board, Superintendent Brian Ganan said Smidl was taking the problem "very hard." Ganan said he was doing what he could to support the business director. "He feels strongly that the letter to our residents should come directly from him," the superintendent said. Over the last 22 years, District 105 has received the state's top financial rating for all but two years, 2003 and 2016.
