CARPENTERSVILLE – The village estimates its property tax rate will rise from $1.33 per $100 assessed valuation to $1.377 per $100.

"This is the first peek at the numbers," Village President Ed Ritter said.

The village received its estimated equalized assessed valuation, or EAV, report from the Kane County Clerk's Office this month – earlier than usual, according to Carpentersville Finance Director Lisa Happ. That report estimated the village's EAV at $710,822,906.

That's a 1.34 percent decrease from the year before, which was $720,503,163.

That means Carpentersville would have to increase its property tax rate to bring in the same amount of money it has in the past to provide services to its residents. Happ said she used the same formula to estimate that tax rate as she has the past few years, which factors in half of budgeted police and fire department salaries, refuse collection, debt service and pension funds.

"I know the tax rate is a huge concern, but we also need to provide services – we need to keep police on the streets," she said.

For a home worth $300,000 and assessed for taxing purposes at one-third its value or $100,000, the village's portion of the property tax bill would be about $1,377. That's an increase of about $47 from the prior rate if the assessed valuation were the same.

But since that value may drop on many individual properties, Happ said she "can't guarantee" that means every individual property tax bill will go up.

Previously, the village's EAV jumped up 5.25 percent between 2007 and 2008. The village's tax rate has remained steady through those years – since 2006, according to Happ.

The finance director said the 2009 decrease in value is "just the market."

"I think it's an overall drop in the market. We're not the only ones. Carpentersville certainly is not the only village that's seen a drop in EAV."

The village board also has warned it the tax rate also will go up next year to fund a likely $20 million bond issuance to pay for the village's Capital Improvement Plan and a new public works facility.

At this week's village board meeting, the board approved the resolution estimating the tax levy. It also set a public hearing to adopt the tax levy ordinances at its meeting on Dec. 1, before the Dec. 28 deadline to file those ordinances with the Kane County Clerk.