McHenry County Blog

Carol Heisler reads the instructions from the Gulf Coast Vacation in a Box Christmas gift which the imaginative Donna Mayberry, sitting to her left, prepared.

Former Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayberry, a new member of Crystal Lake Kiwanis, came up with the funniest Christmas present for the under $15 exchange at the Crystal Lake County Club party last night.

The imaginative lady came up with a Gulf Coast vacation in a box, the outside of which you see below:

GULF COAST BEACH VACATION IN A BOX

Can’t get to the Gulf Coast for a winter vacation?

Congratulations!

You have the next best thing! Please follow instructions and enjoy!

1. Turn thermostat to 90 degrees.
2. Assemble portable beach
   1. Affix palm tree to inside wall of beach container.
   2. Pour sand into container.
   3. Place shells on sand.
   4. Sprinkle oil over beach scene.
3. Choose sunny spot in room to place beach lounge chair (not provided).
4. Put on sunglasses and then raise to top of head, Palm Beach style.
5. Recline in chair and commence to read paperback book, while glancing occasionally at beach scene.

Note: To enhance ambiance, a small fan (not provided) might be strategically placed to duplicate ocean breezes.

= = = = =

Included in the box were a plastic palm tree, a container of sand, sea shells, a bottle of oil, a book of short stories by John Grisham entitled, “Ford County,”  and sun glasses.

Laughter surrounded the table.

Thel lady in red on the left hand side of the second row is McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayberry. Mayberry is retiring this year.

Robert Ross, the Chief Deputy Supervisor of Assessments in Lake County, is scheduled to replace retiring McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayberry.

Robert Ross the Chief Deputy Supervisor of Assessments in Lake County is scheduled to replace retiring McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayberry.

Ross will be paid $100,000 a year initially.

County Administrator Peter Austin explained the interview process, which followed application solicitations sent to all Illinois counties and neighboring township assessors.

Of ten candidates who were Supervisors of Assessment or deputies , six were interviewed. Three were considered strong candidates.

The finalists were the Champaign County Supervisor of Assessments and Ross.

The interview process included a mock presentation to a group of taxpayers upset with their tax bills.

Ross will meet with township assessors next Monday.

Every year there is a meeting of township assessors led by county supervisors of assessment.

It’s a meeting where new laws are explained, information compiled by county assessment employees is distributed and questions are answered.

As far as twelve township assessors were concerned, the highlight might have been the handing out of forms to apply for an annual $3,000 bonus from the state for meeting certain performance standards.

But taxpayers would have probably focused on Supervisor of Assessments Dpnna Mayberry’s comments on trends in local assessed value.

She pointed out that foreclosures were “still coming in at a record rate—800 more than the year before.”

The county assessment level for 2008 is 33.54%, according to preliminary calculations. A second edit removing all sales that are not arms length transactions might change that figure.

“Just because the market took a dive doesn’t mean people are overassessed,” she continued.

She did say that some areas in new subdivisions may be overassessed.

Since the township multipliers are based on three-year averages, Mayberry thinks,

“we would probably be looking at small negative (multipliers) next year.”

Instead of seeing a, say, 1.03% increase from the county level, it might be a .98% figure multiplied times this year’s assessed valuation.

As I have pointed out several times before, the amount that tax districts can collect is limited in total by the increase in the Consumer Price Index, plus assessments of new construction.

Tax rates are below their statutory maximums for all tax districts, I would guess, because property values have gone up so much more than the CPI since the tax cap was imposed by state law.

Whenever assessed valuation increases more than the cost of living, a taxing district’s tax rate is decreased by the county clerk to keep the district from getting more than the increase allowed by the tax cap.

That’s complicated, but it means, even if your assessment a year from now goes down, don’t expect your tax bill to go down.

My guess is that there will be all sorts of homeowners who don’t understand this and they will be “mad as hell.”

I figure the only way for a tax district’s tax bill to go down is if the tax district spends less money.

Anyone think any tax district will do that?

Every year there is a meeting of township assessors led by county supervisors of assessment.

It’s a meeting where new laws are explained, information compiled by county assessment employees is distributed and questions are answered.

As far as twelve township assessors were concerned, the highlight might have been the handing out of forms to apply for an annual $3,000 bonus from the state for meeting certain performance standards.

But taxpayers would have probably focused on Supervisor of Assessments Dpnna Mayberry’s comments on trends in local assessed value.

She pointed out that foreclosures were “still coming in at a record rate—800 more than the year before.”

The county assessment level for 2008 is 33.54%, according to preliminary calculations. A second edit removing all sales that are not arms length transactions might change that figure.

“Just because the market took a dive doesn’t mean people are overassessed,” she continued.

She did say that some areas in new subdivisions may be overassessed.

Since the township multipliers are based on three-year averages, Mayberry thinks,

“we would probably be looking at small negative (multipliers) next year.”

Instead of seeing a, say, 1.03% increase from the county level, it might be a .98% figure multiplied times this year’s assessed valuation.

As I have pointed out several times before, the amount that tax districts can collect is limited in total by the increase in the Consumer Price Index, plus assessments of new construction.

Tax rates are below their statutory maximums for all tax districts, I would guess, because property values have gone up so much more than the CPI since the tax cap was imposed by state law.

Whenever assessed valuation increases more than the cost of living, a taxing district’s tax rate is decreased by the county clerk to keep the district from getting more than the increase allowed by the tax cap.

That’s complicated, but it means, even if your assessment a year from now goes down, don’t expect your tax bill to go down.

My guess is that there will be all sorts of homeowners who don’t understand this and they will be “mad as hell.”

I figure the only way for a tax district’s tax bill to go down is if the tax district spends less money.

Anyone think any tax district will do that?

Township Assessors Elect Association Officers

McHenry County’s township assessors met at the McHenry County Administrative Building yesterday after their annual meeting with Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayberry.

Elected president was Marengo Township Assessor Jon Klick.

You can see him standing with his all-woman fellow officers.

From left to right you see Vice President Tracie Von Bergen, Hebron Township Assessor, Klick, Kelli Myers, Dorr Township Assessor, and Carol Perschke, McHenry Township Assessor.

Township Assessors Elect Association Officers

McHenry County’s township assessors met at the McHenry County Administrative Building yesterday after their annual meeting with Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayberry.

Elected president was Marengo Township Assessor Jon Klick.

You can see him standing with his all-woman fellow officers.

From left to right you see Vice President Tracie Von Bergen, Hebron Township Assessor, Klick, Kelli Myers, Dorr Township Assessor, and Carol Perschke, McHenry Township Assessor.

I don’t look at the McHenry County College web site every month, but, since tonight is a Committee of the Whole meeting and lots of sneaky things have happened at what the board members call “COW” meetings, I looked.

This is the third time the information given to the board members has not been available to the public.

The meeting starts are 6 PM, less than five hours away.

The last time was in April. The time before was in March.

I first found it posted in February.

It was quite a change for the better to obtain online access to the reports to be considered by the board. For months, folks like me sat clueless as to what was being discussed because of the board’s lack of transparency.

It doesn’t look as if much interesting will be happening tonight.

Those who would like to learn more about the property tax assessment process will apparently get a short course from McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayberry.

I left a message in President Walt Packard’s voice mail a little after one this afternoon. Maybe I’ll get a call back saying the board packet has been posted.

If you plan to attend the board meeting tonight, it is at University Center, 100 South Main Street, Crystal Lake, not on the main campus. For old timers, that’s the old Oak Manufacturing building.

The images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

= = = = =
I received a phone call from President Packard’s office, but didn’t realize it until Wednesday. It seems there was no board packet for the Committee of the Whole meeting. Perhaps in such cases, a note could be added to the MCC web site to that effect.

I don’t look at the McHenry County College web site every month, but, since tonight is a Committee of the Whole meeting and lots of sneaky things have happened at what the board members call “COW” meetings, I looked.

This is the third time the information given to the board members has not been available to the public.

The meeting starts are 6 PM, less than five hours away.

The last time was in April. The time before was in March.

I first found it posted in February.

It was quite a change for the better to obtain online access to the reports to be considered by the board. For months, folks like me sat clueless as to what was being discussed because of the board’s lack of transparency.

It doesn’t look as if much interesting will be happening tonight.

Those who would like to learn more about the property tax assessment process will apparently get a short course from McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayberry.

I left a message in President Walt Packard’s voice mail a little after one this afternoon. Maybe I’ll get a call back saying the board packet has been posted.

If you plan to attend the board meeting tonight, it is at University Center, 100 South Main Street, Crystal Lake, not on the main campus. For old timers, that’s the old Oak Manufacturing building.

The images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

= = = = =
I received a phone call from President Packard’s office, but didn’t realize it until Wednesday. It seems there was no board packet for the Committee of the Whole meeting. Perhaps in such cases, a note could be added to the MCC web site to that effect.

Our home’s assessment increase notice came in the mail last week.

It said the assessment is going to increase 5.24%.

It’s called the “multiplier”

Those unfamiliar with Illinois’ complex real estate taxation may think that means my tax bill is going to increase 5%.

Not true.

The tax takes of local tax districts are limited to

• whatever they got last year,
• plus the increase in the CPI (Consumer Price Index),
• plus new construction and re-modeling, plus any tax hike approved by referendum,
• plus whatever was shifted to people like us by cities like Crystal Lake, which have Tax Increment Financing districts.

This past year the CPI increased 2.5%, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue. Since 3.4% was used this year, it would seem to me that next year’s increase for most of us should be less than this year’s.

I interviewed McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayfield. She provided some really good information that I want to share with you.

I asked her what the it meant.

”The main reason we put the multiplier on there is to equalize the effect of the assessment process between townships. In theory, we’re trying to assure that people who are receiving the same services are paying a proportionate amount for those services. The reality is that it doesn’t always work.

“You may have one assessor who is assessing right at market value. You may have a housed across the street in a different township, but it is identical and the services it gets are the same. And if that assessor is assessing property lower, if you don’t try to equalize those two townships then the one is going to pay a lot more for those services.”

I asked her what the average increase was this year.

“We’re probably countywide about 5%”

The question assessors will probably get most this year is “What about homes not selling?”

Her answer:

“We probably didn’t have your assessment up to what would have been the market value during the boom.”

That led to the question of how much home value increase in 2006, which is what the always-one-year-behind real estate tax system is measuring with this year:

“18% in one part of the county and 6% in another.”

I wondered if we would see assessment decrease next year and the application of what is called a “negative multiplier.”

“No, I don’t think so.

“You know, we have a three-year average. So we run these studies every year. We average those studies. We also adjust those studies for any re-assessment the assessors have done.

“Now, when we have a booming market, this is a good thing because we don’t have these huge increases on a yearly basis. A declining market is a little more difficult to explain because you don’t show the decline as quickly.”

“Local tax districts should not fear that they will not receive some percentage increase from inflation,” I observed.

“That’s a true statement,” Mayfield replied.

I asked what next year’s multiplier would be.

“Truthfully, we haven’t seen a lot of failing values. The (number of) transactions have really fallen off.

“Back in 1979, we had 14-16% interest rates. For a while you didn’t see much happening. People sat on their properties because they couldn’t afford to take the loss. But initially the prices didn’t go down. What you say were people selling who had to. That was a much more drastic situation than what you see right now.

“I just wish I had a crystal ball. That would make our life a lot easier.

“We’ve had a lot of people call. I expect we’ll have a lot more appeals than we had previously.

“If you thought your assessment was kind of border line in the past, then I’d take a closer look at it this year.”

I asked what the Coefficient of Dispersion or margin of error was this past year.

Turns out it was 11.53%.

What’s that mean?

Half of the property in McHenry County is assessed between 29.5% of market value and 37.1% of market value. The other half is either higher or lower.

Because of the math, half of the county’s real estate is always assessed below the median average and half above.

If you want to appeal your real estate assessment, the sign above points the way to where the Supervisor of Assessments has her office.

Our home’s assessment increase notice came in the mail last week.

It said the assessment is going to increase 5.24%.

It’s called the “multiplier”

Those unfamiliar with Illinois’ complex real estate taxation may think that means my tax bill is going to increase 5%.

Not true.

The tax takes of local tax districts are limited to

• whatever they got last year,
• plus the increase in the CPI (Consumer Price Index),
• plus new construction and re-modeling, plus any tax hike approved by referendum,
• plus whatever was shifted to people like us by cities like Crystal Lake, which have Tax Increment Financing districts.

This past year the CPI increased 2.5%, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue. Since 3.4% was used this year, it would seem to me that next year’s increase for most of us should be less than this year’s.

I interviewed McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayfield. She provided some really good information that I want to share with you.

I asked her what the it meant.

”The main reason we put the multiplier on there is to equalize the effect of the assessment process between townships. In theory, we’re trying to assure that people who are receiving the same services are paying a proportionate amount for those services. The reality is that it doesn’t always work.

“You may have one assessor who is assessing right at market value. You may have a housed across the street in a different township, but it is identical and the services it gets are the same. And if that assessor is assessing property lower, if you don’t try to equalize those two townships then the one is going to pay a lot more for those services.”

I asked her what the average increase was this year.

“We’re probably countywide about 5%”

The question assessors will probably get most this year is “What about homes not selling?”

Her answer:

“We probably didn’t have your assessment up to what would have been the market value during the boom.”

That led to the question of how much home value increase in 2006, which is what the always-one-year-behind real estate tax system is measuring with this year:

“18% in one part of the county and 6% in another.”

I wondered if we would see assessment decrease next year and the application of what is called a “negative multiplier.”

“No, I don’t think so.

“You know, we have a three-year average. So we run these studies every year. We average those studies. We also adjust those studies for any re-assessment the assessors have done.

“Now, when we have a booming market, this is a good thing because we don’t have these huge increases on a yearly basis. A declining market is a little more difficult to explain because you don’t show the decline as quickly.”

“Local tax districts should not fear that they will not receive some percentage increase from inflation,” I observed.

“That’s a true statement,” Mayfield replied.

I asked what next year’s multiplier would be.

“Truthfully, we haven’t seen a lot of failing values. The (number of) transactions have really fallen off.

“Back in 1979, we had 14-16% interest rates. For a while you didn’t see much happening. People sat on their properties because they couldn’t afford to take the loss. But initially the prices didn’t go down. What you say were people selling who had to. That was a much more drastic situation than what you see right now.

“I just wish I had a crystal ball. That would make our life a lot easier.

“We’ve had a lot of people call. I expect we’ll have a lot more appeals than we had previously.

“If you thought your assessment was kind of border line in the past, then I’d take a closer look at it this year.”

I asked what the Coefficient of Dispersion or margin of error was this past year.

Turns out it was 11.53%.

What’s that mean?

Half of the property in McHenry County is assessed between 29.5% of market value and 37.1% of market value. The other half is either higher or lower.

Because of the math, half of the county’s real estate is always assessed below the median average and half above.

If you want to appeal your real estate assessment, the sign above points the way to where the Supervisor of Assessments has her office.