By Steven Stilt
The Kaskaskia College Board of Trustees on Monday night approved the scheduling of a public hearing, as the school seeks a tax levy amount exceeding last year’s levy.
According to board documents, KC’s aggregate tax levy for 2025 is estimated at around 14.9 million dollars, compared to the 2024 levy of just over 12 and a half million dollars. By law, a public hearing is required when a taxing district seeks a tax levy greater than 105 percent of the previous year’s levy.
KC President George Evans says the levy request reflects the school’s needs and the steady rise in equalized assessed valuation in the area.
“Number one is, we only put forth what we need as an institution,” Evans said. “We do not max out our levies. That’s never our intent … but we have to make sure that we are capturing the revenue that is available to us to offset the differential from student tuition and lack of state funding. That is what I was trying to point out here tonight. Right now, 42 percent of our budget is coming from tuition from our students and a little bit over a third is coming from the state of Illinois, and we have to be able to capture some of the local property taxes in order to offset those remaining costs.”
The levy hearing will take place at 6 p.m. on November 24th, prior to the board of trustees’ regular meeting at the Lifelong Learning Center on KC’s main campus.
In other action, the board approved a proposal to begin charging admission for theatrical productions at the college beginning next spring. Admission will be 12 dollars for adults, 10 dollars for seniors, 5 dollars for children age 17 and younger, and free for KC students with proof of ID and for students enrolled in production coursework. One theatre production will be marketed as a “pay what you can” performance.
KC officials say revenue generated by the fees will help offset costs such as royalties, set construction, and costumes.
Nathan Young, assistant professor of theatre and communication at KC, told the board he believes the community will continue to support the theatre program.
“I think people want to support the arts in their district, and this is a way that we can do that, but the pay what you can night is so important, to keep that tradition of, ‘even if you don’t have any money, we still want you to be able to come see the show,’ which I think is still the spirit of what that is,” Young said. “So, I think we’ve brainstormed the appropriate solution to move forward and do what we need to do and what is kind of expected in this space yet still honor the roots of why the original policy was put into place and make arts and entertainment available for everyone in the district.”
The board of trustees also on Monday approved an amendment to the college’s lease agreement with the Family YMCA of Fayette County. The YMCA currently leases around 8 acres of property from KC, which sits near the school’s Vandalia campus. The revised lease agreement includes approximately 10 more acres of college-owned land for park development.
