On October 7, Glen Carbon's Director of Finance, Kelly Korte, sent the village's Finance and Administration Committee a one-page history of the property tax levy. It goes back to 2016, and the bottom line looks like good news every year. The village's tax rate fell from 0.7844 per $100 of equalized assessed value in 2016 to 0.6140 in 2025. It dropped every single year in between.
Over the same years, the village's final tax extension, the total dollar amount it levies, rose from $2,722,069 to $3,646,730. The rate went down and the levy went up by about a third. That's how property tax works in Edwardsville and Glen Carbon, and if you're comparing these towns with Missouri suburbs, it changes how you read the tax line on every listing.
The bill on a listing is already a year behind
Illinois property taxes are paid in arrears. The Madison County Treasurer lists 2025 real estate tax bills as payable in 2026, in four installments due July 9, September 9, October 9 and December 9. The City of Edwardsville's own levy memo says it plainly. Taxes levied for the city's 2025–2026 fiscal year "will not be received until the end of 2026."
So the most recent bill you can see on a house this fall is tax year 2025. It was built from 2025 assessments and 2025 rates. The next bill, for tax year 2026, will be paid in 2027. Its pieces are still being decided. Edwardsville Township published its 2026 assessments on July 17, and the appeal deadline was August 17. The levies that turn those assessments into dollars are on the November and December calendars.
That timing explains why the rate is such a weak clue. The county calculates it last, after the assessments and the levies are already set.
Glen Carbon's memo shows how it works
Each taxing body decides how many dollars it needs. The county then divides that amount by the total taxable value in its area, and the result is the rate. When home values rise faster than the dollar request, the rate drops even though the request grew.
Here is Glen Carbon's version, using figures from the village's October 2026 levy memo:
| Levy year | Village tax base (rate-setting EAV) | Total village levy | Village rate per $100 EAV | Memo's village tax on a $300,000 home |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | $347,025,607 | $2,722,069 | 0.7844 | $784.40 |
| 2020 | $405,135,448 | $2,936,422 | 0.7248 | $724.80 |
| 2023 | $496,189,066 | $3,225,229 | 0.6500 | $650.00 |
| 2024 | $552,499,153 | $3,489,032 | 0.6315 | $631.50 |
| 2025 | $593,929,986 | $3,646,730 | 0.6140 | $614.00 |
| 2026, preliminary, 5% EAV growth | $623,626,485 | $3,809,434 | 0.6108 | $610.80 |
The last column assumes the house is worth $300,000 in every year. Under that assumption, the village's share of the bill looks like it fell by about $170 over nine years. But the village's tax base grew by about 71% over the same stretch. That base includes new construction, so no single home tracks it exactly. Still, here's some rough math. Picture a home whose assessed value grew in step with the village base. Its village share would have gone from $784 in 2016 to about $1,050 in 2025.
The memo's tax base column shows how quickly values have climbed recently. Village EAV rose 8.1% in 2022, 9.4% in 2023, 11.3% in 2024 and 7.5% in 2025.
The school district and the city work the same way
The village is a small slice of the bill. On the Madison County Clerk's tax year 2025 rate report, a typical Edwardsville city tax code totals 7.0932 per $100 of EAV. Edwardsville CUSD 7 accounts for 4.6451 of that, about two-thirds. In Glen Carbon's base village code, the village itself is 0.6140 out of 6.4328, a little under a tenth.
The larger bodies show the same pattern. The Edwardsville Intelligencer reported in November 2025 that District 7's estimated tax year 2025 levy was about $111.6 million, roughly 9.57% higher than the year before. The prior year's EAV growth had come in at 10.13%. The district projected that its rate would drop from $4.6560 to under $4.645. The county's rate report later certified it at 4.6451.
The City of Edwardsville's November 21, 2025 levy memo set a levy of $19,008,345 against an estimated EAV of $1,348,798,885. It projected the combined city and library rate at 1.4096, down from 1.4256. The city's levy schedule puts that levy at 9.0% above 2024 and the estimated EAV at 10.3% above 2024.
So in the last completed cycle, the school district and the city each asked for roughly 9% to 10% more money, and each one's rate still went down slightly.
Budget requests are set close to legal limits
Illinois has a Truth in Taxation threshold. Glen Carbon's October 2026 levy memo describes it as a total extension, less debt, that is 5% over the prior year's extension less debt. A request above that line requires a public hearing. Glen Carbon's preliminary 2026 request, excluding debt, comes to $3,274,884. That's 4.99% above the prior year's $3,119,320. The memo states that "the options presented would not require a public hearing."
District 7 took a different approach last year. The district set its levy assuming 10.5% EAV growth, even though current estimates were closer to 7.5%. The Intelligencer reported Chief Financial Officer David Courtney's explanation that the higher figure lets the district "capture the full amount legally allowed." Courtney linked the increase to rising costs rather than new spending. Liability, property and workers' comp insurance had been "going up 10 to 15 percent the last couple years," he said. The district also needed to rebuild insurance pool reserves after claims from the March 2024 hailstorm. District 7 scheduled a Truth in Taxation hearing for December 4, 2025, with final adoption expected December 15.
Neither approach is unusual. Both show that the dollar request is set on purpose and the rate simply follows from it.
Two addresses in the same town can carry different totals
The rate that applies to a specific house depends on its tax code, meaning the exact mix of taxing bodies that cover that parcel. Here are a few tax year 2025 codes from the county's Edwardsville Township report:
| Tax code | What's layered in | Total rate per $100 EAV |
|---|---|---|
| 264 | Glen Carbon village, Glen Carbon Centennial Library, CUSD 7 | 6.4328 |
| 105 | Same, plus Glen Carbon Fire | 6.9709 |
| 1017 | Same as 105, plus Cottonwood 5 Special Service Area | 7.2408 |
| 102 | City of Edwardsville, Edwardsville City Library, CUSD 7 | 7.0932 |
| 547 | Same as 102, plus Metro East Sanitary | 7.3708 |
| 282 | Same as 102, plus Glen Carbon Fire | 7.6313 |
Some rough math shows what that spread means for a single house. The Illinois Department of Revenue states that Illinois law requires property to be assessed at one-third of market value. According to IDOR's property tax relief page, the general homestead exemption can reduce EAV by up to $6,000 in counties outside Cook and its neighboring counties, which includes Madison County. Assume a home worth $300,000, an EAV of $100,000, and the full exemption.
- In code 264, $94,000 times 6.4328% comes to about $6,047.
- In code 102, the same math gives about $6,668.
- In code 1017, the Cottonwood 5 line brings it to about $6,806.
- In code 282, it reaches about $7,173.
That's about $1,100 a year in difference between two $300,000 homes, and it all comes from the tax code. Real bills will differ, because actual assessments, multipliers and exemptions vary. Some codes also show a TIF line at 0.0000, such as the Orchard Town TIF and Edwardsville #2 TIF. That line doesn't add anything to the rate.
What decides the 2027 bill
The Illinois Department of Revenue announced on September 15 a tentative equalization factor of 1.0655 for Madison County, up from 1.0000 last year. It applies to taxes for 2026 payable in 2027. The reason is that county assessments averaged 31.28% of market value, below the one-third standard. IDOR also says the factor doesn't raise total bills by itself. Total bills depend on how much local bodies request.
In practice, a 6.55% bump to the tax base helps push rates down again next year. The dollars will come from the levy votes:
- November 3: Madison County's referenda list includes an advisory question asking whether the General Assembly should pass property tax reform, including a cap at 1% of assessed value.
- November 10: The Glen Carbon Village Board is scheduled to approve its estimated levy. If the board picks an amount that requires a hearing, that hearing would be November 24.
- December 8: Glen Carbon's final levy ordinance goes to the board. It can be lower than the estimate but not higher.
- December 9: The last installment of tax year 2025 bills is due.
Last year, District 7 and the City of Edwardsville both took up their levies in November and December.
A few questions we hear
If the rate goes down, could my bill still go up? Yes. Your bill is your EAV times the combined rate. If your assessed value rises faster than the rate falls, your bill increases. Glen Carbon's 2025 numbers show this. The rate fell 2.77% while the village's tax base grew 7.5%.
Are there exemptions besides the homestead exemption? The Illinois Department of Revenue's property tax relief page lists them. One is the Low-Income Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze, which has a $75,000 household income limit for tax year 2026.
Where can I see the tax code for a specific house? It appears on the parcel's tax bill. The county's Edwardsville Township rate report lists every code in the township and the bodies inside it.
We're real estate agents, not tax professionals, so treat this as general information and not tax, legal or financial advice. Please confirm your own numbers with the Madison County offices or a tax professional.
Your share of every levy above starts with what your home is worth. If you'd like to know where your Edwardsville or Glen Carbon home stands before the 2026 bills arrive in 2027, Chris & Kait Real Estate Team can help. Get Your Instant Home Valuation and we'll walk you through it.
