Geneva D304 plans a 3.61% levy increase and takes a first step toward a solar lease

Geneva School District 304 expects to ask for $111.6 million in property taxes for next year, 3.61% more than last year, and its board took a first step Monday toward leasing district land for a solar farm.

The school board placed its tentative 2026 tax levy on file at its Nov. 9 meeting. The levy is the property tax money the district collects in 2027. A public hearing and final vote are set for Dec. 14.

The board also discussed a proposal from OneEnergy, a solar developer, to lease about 20 acres of district-owned land for a community solar project. No vote was taken. Superintendent Andrew Barrett said that unless board members objected, he would have the district's attorney start working on what a first-stage agreement could look like, with ways for the district to back out. No one objected.

The levy: $3.9 million more

The district's estimates, from the presentation by Todd Latham, assistant superintendent for business services:

• Total levy: $111,597,000, up $3,886,774, or 3.61%, from last year's $107.71 million
• Operating funds under the state tax cap: $97,097,000, up 4.46%
• Debt payments: $14.5 million, down 1.75%
• Estimated tax rate: 4.910 per $100 of equalized assessed value, down from 5.104

State law caps growth on existing property at 5% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. That's 2.7% this year. New construction is outside the cap, and there's less of it. Geneva's new property is estimated at $4.71 million, down from $6.99 million last year. Latham told the board that limited land left to develop, market timing and the cost of building are among the reasons.

The district's taxable property value is estimated at about $2.28 billion, up nearly 8%. As values rise, the tax rate goes down, Latham said.

The increase is small enough that the district isn't required to hold a truth-in-taxation hearing. It holds one every year anyway, Latham said. Notice of the Dec. 14 hearing is scheduled to run in the Kane County Chronicle Dec. 3. The district's cash reserves stood at $70.69 million on June 30, before the final audit.

The solar proposal: $4,000 an acre

OneEnergy, which says it has built 55 projects in the Midwest, first presented the plan to the board Sept. 25. The company is already planning a separate community solar project on Fabyan Parkway in Geneva for 2027.

Under the proposal in the board packet:

• A three-year option period, while OneEnergy seeks a ComEd connection and a Kane County permit, would pay the district $10,000 a year.
• Once running, the lease would pay $4,000 an acre a year for 30 years, rising 2% a year. OneEnergy estimates $80,000 the first year and $3.28 million over 30 years for 20 acres.
• The district could subscribe up to 40% of the project's power for its ComEd accounts. OneEnergy estimates savings of $90,000 the first year and $1.43 million over the 15-year state incentive contract.
• After 30 years, the project would be removed.

Community solar lets ComEd customers sign up for a share of a local project's power, and OneEnergy says subscribers get about a 20% discount. A state program for public school sites requires that the project sit on school-owned land. The company's slides say ComEd's feeder on Keslinger Road can connect the site. If everything clears, construction would start in spring 2028.

Board members want an exit ramp

Board members who spoke Monday raised questions they want answered first: what the land looks like after the panels come out, what kind of panels would be used, whether the district looked at other companies and whether it could own a system itself. One member asked staff to compare a nearby district's solar array.

Others said the three-year option period could be the time to get those answers, as long as the agreement lets the district walk away. One member pointed out that most district buildings get power from Geneva's city-owned electric utility, so a ComEd project like this one can only offset power at a few district sites.

A development and a lawsuit question

Barrett also told the board that Campton Hills has approved zoning for LaFox of Campton Hills, a planned development of up to 900 homes in the district. A utility easement through the district's 28-acre property, which the district agreed to in a developer donation agreement, will come back for a vote. Within the next year or so, the board will also have to decide which elementary school the new neighborhood attends, he said.

He also asked whether board members want the district to look into joining federal litigation by school districts against Meta, TikTok's parent ByteDance, Snap and Google over social media's effect on students. He said he would come back for the board's views at a later meeting.

The board will hold the levy hearing and adopt the final levy at its Dec. 14 meeting at the Coultrap Educational Services Center, 227 N. Fourth St.