Oak Park property owners and businesses face the prospect of property tax levy increases above the village's 3% annual target after a consultant warned that general fund reserves could be depleted by fiscal year 2030 without corrective action.

The finding came from Baker Tilly, a financial consulting firm the village hired in 2024 to produce a 10-year fiscal forecast. The firm presented its results to the Village Board Finance Committee on Thursday, May 21.

"Unless you can come up with more revenue or cut some of your expenses, this is not sustainable," Baker Tilly manager Matt Stark told the committee.

Kevin Bueso, the village's finance chief, said Oak Park can no longer assume it will hold to its 3% levy target if it wants to maintain current service levels. The village's recent surpluses, he explained, were a product of pandemic-era conditions: federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars flowing in while staffing and capital projects were scaled back. Those conditions have reversed.

Trustee Brian Straw called the situation "a structural deficit," noting the village had limited levy increases during the pandemic's reduced spending and is now trying to catch up on deferred maintenance and return to full staffing from a smaller levy base.

No specific dollar figure for the projected annual shortfall appeared in the Baker Tilly presentation. The report did not quantify how much above 3% the levy would need to rise.

The levy pressure arrives as commercial property owners absorb a separate hit: a 25% increase in assessed property values from the Cook County Assessor's Office, issued in early May 2026. That reassessment reflects market gains since 2023 and will affect tax bills starting in summer 2027. No commercial property owners or downtown business representatives spoke at the May 21 meeting, and no data on commercial vacancy rates or sales tax trends was presented alongside the forecast.

According to Oak Park Township, the village's combined property tax levy across all local taxing bodies totaled $264 million in the most recent billing cycle, up 3.3% from the prior year.

Bueso said the finance department is adding three positions — a deputy CFO, a comptroller, and a senior accountant — to build capacity for long-term planning. The cost of those hires was not disclosed at the meeting.

The Finance Committee will continue meeting through the rest of 2026 to shape the village's 2027 budget and long-term fiscal strategy.