I live in Bolingbrook, why am I paying taxes to the Plainfield Public Library District?
Wheatland Township in Bolingbrook is part of the Plainfield Library District. Fountaindale Library which serves the rest of Bolingbrook, is also a district library. Neither of our boundaries matches the same boundaries as the Village in which it is located. The Plainfield Library District is over 40 square miles and serves all of the village of Plainfield and then parts of Bolingbrook, Joliet and Romeoville.
My tax bill doesn’t show any library. What does this mean?
There are two possibilities. The more common reason is you live in an unserved area and are considered a non-resident. Your home is not eligible to pay taxes to any library. However, you are still eligible to obtain a library card. State statute dictates that the closest library that is in the same school district as your home is the library to which you would pay a non-resident fee to join. This impacts mostly Wheatland Township addresses, including parts of the following subdivisions in Bolingbrook: River Hills, Patriot Place and Liberty Green.
Why does this happen?
This happens when parcels of farmland are joined together by a developer to build a new subdivision. Sometimes there are parcels included that are unincorporated, thus requiring annexation into the municipality and any other taxing bodies. State statute requires that property owners petition to annex into a library district at the time of annexation into the municipality. Unfortunately, sometimes that step doesn’t happen by the developers. Options for annexing into the library district once there are individual homeowners in the development are difficult and costly.
Thankfully, the state has provided the non-resident option, which allows you to receive all the benefits of a library card by paying your equivalent fee annually in one payment directly with the library district. That fee is determined using the tax bill method: We take the county-determined tax rate and multiply it by the Net Equalized Value of the residence to calculate a yearly fee for the household. This is the exact same method that determines the fee for those residences that are in district.
The second reason why you wouldn’t see a library on your tax bill is that the property is too new and hasn’t been put on the tax rolls as of yet or has not had a full year on the tax rolls. If you don’t see a library listed, give us a call at 815-436-6639 and we can help uncover the reason.
My tax bill shows City of Joliet Library and Plainfield Public Library District
If you see both the City of Joliet Library and Plainfield Library Special on your tax bill, your property is in an area designated on your property tax bill as Tax Code 0612. Your property is in both the City of Joliet Library and Plainfield Public Library District, due to a court decision back in the 1980’s.
Double taxation of these properties (paying full taxes to both) was ended in 2001 by an intergovernmental agreement between the Plainfield Public Library District and the City of Joliet.
Each year, the total tax rate you pay on our property is equivalent to whichever tax rate is higher – Joliet or Plainfield.
- If the City of Joliet Library tax rate is higher, the “Plainfield Library Special” line will be zeroed out.
- If the Plainfield Public Library District tax rate is higher, you will see the City of Joliet Library rate and a rate on the “Plainfield Library Special” line that is the difference between the Joliet and Plainfield Library’s rates.
Residents of the Tax Code 0612 area are entitled to library cards and full privileges from both libraries and can vote on any ballot measure for either library. The Tax Code 0612 area includes the following subdivisions:
- Heritage Lakes
- Most of Riverwalk
- Southwest quadrant of Wesmere (Pointe and Ridge neighborhoods plus most of the Arbor neighborhood and about half of the Highlands neighborhood)
- Caton Ridge
- West half of Mayfair
- Aspen Falls
If you have any further questions or would like to know more about this taxing district, please contact Library Director Lisa Pappas.