Eldorado CUSD #4 Board of Education voted on Thursday, March 17, 2022 to abate $100,000 to lower the schools portion of the property tax levy.
What is an abatement and how does it work?
An abatement is a form of a property tax reduction. The Eldorado School District is deciding to accept less money than it is entitled to under the property tax system. This year, Eldorado Unit #4 is lowering its property taxes by $100,000 for the 2021 levy, which is paid in 2022. Last year, the board chose to abate $80,000.
What will the abatement mean for me?
The District has passed a resolution to lower its property tax receipts by $100,000. To clarify, this does not necessarily mean taxes will go down, (we only control our portion of your tax bill) it simply means District Eldorado Unit #4 School will receive less money than it would otherwise and our school board has chosen to give our property taxpayers some relief. Last year, the board abated $80,000, which resulted in the average taxpayer saving about $35 on their tax bill.
Why does the District have the ability to abate taxes now?
The District strives to be an efficient and effective steward of taxpayer funds. Eldorado Unit #4 has built up adequate fund balances over the years, sufficient to weather difficult times. The District experienced a surplus during the last fiscal year, and based on having adequate reserves, the board has decided to abate this amount back to the taxpayers. The board has chosen to do this 6 out of the last 7 years.
When will this go into effect and when will it reflect on my tax bill?
The abatement will be effective on the fall 2022 property tax bills.
Can’t Eldorado Unit #4 Just lower the tax levy?
From the taxing body’s perspective, future tax levels are based on the previous year’s levy. There is no way to make a one-time reduction through the levy process because reducing any one year’s levy will affect all future levies forever. For this reason, the Eldorado School Board decided to go with an abatement. An abatement is done outside of the levy process and has the effect of reducing the levy for one year without affecting future levies.
Does the Eldorado School District have high taxes compared to other districts?
No. The Eldorado School Board makes it a priority to try to keep the school district's tax rate as low as possible while still providing a quality education. Below are the tax rates of Saline County Schools for the last five years. Eldorado has maintained the lowest rate each of these 5 years.
Saline County Schools Property Tax Rates
| Tax Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| Carrier Mills-Stonefort #2 | 4.56516 | 5.25739 | 4.71412 | 4.55657 | 4.62768 |
| Eldorado #4 | 4.30945 | 4.05247 | 4.26358 | 4.18867 | 4.43304 |
| Galatia #1 | 4.66784 | 4.79036 | 4.87331 | 4.91839 | 4.89401 |
| Harrisburg #3 | 4.57929 | 4.55186 | 4.51289 | 4.50017 | 4.53303 |