The Jacksonville School District 117 Superintendent has taken to social media to help explain PTELL and the annual property tax levy.
In the 1990s the State of Illinois changed how school districts could request funding through property taxes.
District 117 Superintendent Steve Ptacek says years later, the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law, also known as PTELL, is actually hurting many districts and taxpayers alike, and the confusion of how PTELL works only adds to the problems each year during tax time.
He says to help more people understand how and why the system works the way it does, he has taken to YouTube to help answer the many questions he and the administration are asked on a regular basis.
“I know individuals who are even involved in schools and in taxing bodies that still don’t fully understand PTELL and how it works. So I made the video series to do kind of like those old books like Windows for Dummies. Just a breaking it down to the nuts and bolts of PTELL and really explaining it in a way that anybody who watches it could understand.
Because if more and more people understand PTELL, they see how districts are limited, and they will see how it’s really causing one of the largest problems that we are facing in not being able to answer up to our property taxpayers.”
The videos are hosted on the District 117 YouTube channel and break down over a four part series an understanding of PTELL and balloon levies, to why it was created.
Ptacek says two videos are already on the district’s page with more coming in the next month.
“In late January I’m putting out two more videos. In one I’m going to explain why PTELL was originally developed in the 90s. That will be a shorter video, and then a longer video that will discuss the actual negative consequences of PTELL to the taxpayers. Things like why the district can’t abate money back- give refunds to the taxpayers without substantial penalty moving forward. We will show data on how it penalizes us, and I’m working on a possible solution that I think would benefit both the taxing bodies and the taxpayers.”
Ptacek says he has had some initial conversations with local legislators about possible solutions to the PTELL problems and hopes more will come in the near future.
To access the free videos explaining PTELL and the property tax process, go to the District 117 YouTube page by searching JSD117.
You can also listen to the full What’s On Your Mind interview where Ptacek explains more on PTELL and taxing as well as plans for a new School in the Woodson/Murrayville area by going to the audio archive on our home page at wlds.com.