Voters in four Illinois counties will decide in November whether to approve an additional sales tax to fund school facilities, but data show the levy has failed to deliver promised property tax relief where it already exists. An analysis published by the Illinois Policy Institute finds that in counties with the County School Facility Occupation Tax, property taxes levied by school districts grew at nearly the same rate as counties without it. The report examines voting patterns and tax impacts ahead of referendums in Lake, Adams, Crawford, and Tazewell counties on November 3.
From 2022 to 2025, school district property taxes in counties that adopted the sales tax grew by a median of 19.81%, compared to 19.57% in counties that didn't adopt it—a difference of just 0.24 percentage points. The County School Facility Occupation Tax, authorized by a 2007 state law, allows counties to impose up to 1% in additional sales tax in quarter-point increments. So far, 58 of the 101 eligible counties have adopted the levy. Revenue can only be used for building improvements, mental health professionals, and school resource officers, not teacher salaries or operating expenses. When the money pays off facility-related debt, a corresponding property tax reduction is required by law.
The report documents that voters have rejected the tax in almost 62% of the at least 154 votes held across 86 Illinois counties. In more than one-third of counties that currently have the sales tax, voters initially turned it down at least once. Carroll County residents voted against the measure five times between 2011 and 2016. According to the Illinois Policy Institute, counties have claimed that because property taxes primarily fund school building upgrades, the additional sales tax revenue can lead to offsetting property tax reductions for residents.
If approved, the new tax would push total sales tax rates to historic highs in several communities. In Lake County, rates would climb to 10.25% in Highwood, Antioch business districts, Lake Villa business district, and Long Grove business district. Tazewell County's rate would reach 10.5% in Pekin and East Peoria, while Adams County would hit 10% in Quincy. Crawford County's rate would rise to 7.25% countywide. The analysis finds that despite the legal requirement to reduce property taxes when sales tax revenue pays down facility debt, there's no evidence of actual property tax relief or even a slowdown in the rate at which school district property taxes have grown. The report concludes that voters have been right to remain skeptical of promises that the sales tax would ease their property tax burden, given that data show no demonstrable relief in the 58 counties where the tax is already in force.