Your bill
Where your property tax goes.
Your property tax bill isn’t one tax. On the standard Rockford bill it is 11 taxes, each set by a different government.
The City of Rockford’s line is about a fifth of the total. It is the line the mayor answers for, and Bob will keep the city levy flat.
More than half of the bill is the school district. Nine other bodies share the rest, from the park district and the county down to the airport authority. Each one sets its own levy; the city’s is the one decided at City Hall. Here is what the mayor’s office does control.
Estimate your bill
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Worked example: a $150,000 home, general homestead exemption, tax code 001.
- Estimated annual bill
- $3,885
- Per month
- $324
- Total rate per $100
- 8.8290
- Schools and college
- City of Rockford
- Parks, library and forest preserve
- County, township and other districts
| Taxing body | Share | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Rockford Public Schools 205K-12 public schools | 51.0% | $1,982 |
| City of RockfordPolice, fire, public works | 19.7% | $766 |
| Rockford Park DistrictParks, pools, recreation | 8.6% | $333 |
| Winnebago CountyCourts, sheriff, health department | 7.1% | $277 |
| Rock Valley CollegeCommunity college district 511 | 5.2% | $201 |
| Rockford Public LibraryLibrary branches and services | 3.4% | $133 |
| Four Rivers Sanitation AuthorityWastewater treatment | 1.3% | $50 |
| Rockford Township Road DistrictTownship roads | 1.1% | $42 |
| Forest Preserves of Winnebago CountyForest preserves and trails | 0.9% | $35 |
| Rockford TownshipGeneral assistance, township services | 0.9% | $34 |
| Chicago Rockford International AirportGreater Rockford Airport Authority | 0.9% | $33 |
| Total | 100% | $3,885 |
Figures are rounded, so the rows may not add to the total by a dollar or two.
How the estimate works
- Illinois assesses a home at one-third of its market value. A $150,000 home is assessed at about $50,000.
- Exemptions come off that figure. The general homestead exemption, for an owner who lives in the home, takes off up to $6,000. The senior exemption, for owners 65 or older, takes off up to $5,000 more.
- What is left is multiplied by the combined rate. Rates are per $100, so the standard city rate of 8.8290 takes $8.83 of every $100 of taxable value.
The county publishes its own check on this arithmetic. For bills paid in 2025 it put the homestead exemption’s value in the City of Rockford at about $569, which is $6,000 at that year’s rate of 9.4764. At this year’s rate the same exemption is worth about $530.
Different parts of the city, different rates
Rockford spans more than one township and more than one school district, so two houses inside the city limits can carry different rates. Your tax code, printed on your bill, says which combination you are in. These six are all inside the city.
| Code | What’s different | Total rate | $150,000 home |
|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | The standard city code: Rockford Township and District 205 | 8.8290 | $3,885 |
| 021 | Harlem School District 122 in place of District 205 | 9.8322 | $4,326 |
| 381 | Winnebago Unit District 323 in place of District 205 | 9.4006 | $4,136 |
| 127 | Cherry Valley Township and its road district in place of Rockford Township’s | 8.9332 | $3,931 |
| 146 | Owen Township and its road district in place of Rockford Township’s | 8.9163 | $3,923 |
| 131 | No Rockford Park District or Four Rivers Sanitation levy | 7.9588 | $3,502 |
On the same $150,000 home with the homestead exemption, code 021 costs about $824 a year more than code 131. Most of that gap is the school district.
A lower rate doesn’t mean a lower bill
A rate is what you get when a government’s levy is divided by the value of all the property it taxes. When values rise faster than levies, the rate falls. For bills paid in 2026 the standard city rate fell from 9.4764 to 8.8290, a drop of 6.83%.
Whether your own bill fell depends on how much your assessment rose. A flat city levy works the same way: it holds the city’s total still, not your share of it. That is why the whole bill matters, and why Bob has committed to publishing everything a household pays the city in one document.
What the estimate leaves out
- Your real assessed value. One-third of market value is the rule. The assessor’s valuation and township equalization decide the actual figure, and the county’s parcel search shows yours. Assessment rules are set in Springfield, not at City Hall. Bob’s position on them.
- Other exemptions. The Senior Assessment Freeze and the exemptions for veterans and for people with disabilities can lower a bill further. They are not modeled here.
- Other codes and extra lines. Some parcels carry an extra district, a street-light district for example. If your code is not in the list above, the County Clerk publishes the rates for every code.
- Next year’s rates. These are the rates for tax year 2025, paid in 2026, completed by the Winnebago County Clerk on March 30, 2026. The rates for bills paid in 2027 come out next spring.
Sources: Winnebago County Clerk, 2025 District Rate Listing, 2025 District Rates by Tax Code and 2025 Municipal and School District Tax Rates; Winnebago County Supervisor of Assessments, exemption information. Every other figure the campaign uses is on Check our work.
Keep reading
All six pages · What a mayor can do · Sign the petition · Donate · Where these numbers come from