Katheryn Picciolini, business manager of Chicago Ridge Schools, discussed the tentative 2022 tax levy with the school board at a recent meeting.

"We're asking the board to approve the tentative levy at 5% over last year's extension, plus new property," she said. "We do understand that this levy is preceded by a historic period of low inflation. So this is a big ask. We also as a school district are experiencing labor shortages and rising labor costs and overall operating costs due to supply chain costs plus supply and demand, basically everything it touches just is costing more money."

The Consumer Price Index 2021, which is used to calculate the 2022 tax levy, was 7.5%. She explained that due to the tax-cap law, even if the CPI has risen higher than 5%, the school system cannot request more than 5%.

Still, this would be the greatest percentage increase in recent history, with 2009 coming in second with 4%. The 10-year average is 1.95%.

The board discussed how maxing out their levy ask at 5% would affect taxpayers and whether to reduce it. While it was considered, economic trends and expenditures for the school system indicate that not asking for as much as they can would be extremely risky for the district and could easily result in the district not being able to keep the lights on. The levy will be officially approved by the board at a later date.