Burke Law Firm’s McHenry County Assessment Appeal Clients

In the FBI Agent’s statement that led to Chicago Alderman Ed Burke’s arrest for attempted extortion, Burke is quoted as desiring his law firm to represent the fast food restaurant moguls in Will, Lake and DuPage Counties, in that order. … Continue reading

Flooding Brings Possibility of Real Estate Assessment Relief

Take a look at the following part of the Illinois Revenue Act concerning natural disasters: (35 ILCS 200/13-5) Sec. 13-5. Reassessment in disaster areas. In every county which has been declared a major disaster area by the President of the … Continue reading

County Releases Assessment Quality Statistics

Assessors use something called a “Coefficient of Dispersion” to measure the quality of assessments. It’s something like the margin of error used in political polls. The McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments has provided the following data from 2015.  This is … Continue reading

Grafton Township Assessor Al Zielinski Not Happy with Supervisor of Assessments

An email from Grafton Township Assessor Al Zielinski: Appealing your 2014 taxes and your 2015 assessments Personally and via my presentations, I’ve explained and cautioned about the assessment games played at the county level. However, I never imagined to what … Continue reading

New, Free Property Info Tool for McHenry County

A press release from McHenry County: McHenry County introduces new, free “Online Property Inquiry” tool to County website The new, free “Online Property Inquiry” tool provides the public with an easy-to-use mechanism to access property parcel and tax information. This one-stop shop … Continue reading

State Rep. Goes After Newspaper Lifeline to Save Tax Dollars

It’s pretty obvious that newspapers are in trouble. Circulation is down. Display advertising is way down. But legal advertising still keeps the presses rolling. Now comes State Rep. Joe Sosnowski (representing an area I represented in the 1970’s–Boone, northern DeKalb and … Continue reading

Will Lower Assessments Lead to Lower Taxes?

The Illinois real estate assessment system bases one’s share of the total bill on the value of one’s property (unless one has farm land). A short history of how we got where we are. The 1870 Constitution required that real … Continue reading

It’s Tax Levy Time and the Taxpayers Are Hiding from and Being Left Out in the Cold

There are plenty of articles in the Northwest Herald about tax levies this time of year. Let me give a short course in how to report what’s going on. Headlines have read, “[X tax district] holds levy constant.” What does … Continue reading

State Says McHenry County Assessments Must Go Down 9%

That’s what Supervisor of Assessments Robert Ross emailed me in September: “The Department of Revenue has indicated McHenry County assessments must go down approximately 9 percent in 2012.” Now comes my Algonquin Township assessment notice and guess what it says? … Continue reading

The Tax Cap Did Not Make Your Tax Bill Go Up, Tax District Officials Asking for More Money Did That

Under the heading of “Why your tax bills went up,” in Kevin Craver’s article on the issuance of Property Tax bills is a misstatement from the McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments. The Northwest Herald story says Robert Ross indicated, “The … Continue reading

Real Estate Tax Assessments Down Almost 10%, Don’t Expect a Lower Bill

The 2010 assessed valuation has been totaled for McHenry County and it’s down almost 10%. That’s what a comparison of raw figures from the McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Office indicate. McHenry County real estate taxes this year will be … Continue reading

Assessment Appeal Time

Sorry for the delay in pointing out that homeowners can appeal their assessments in McHenry Township. It looks like the deadline is the day before the election. The sparsely populated Dunham Township, on the south edge of Harvard, also has … Continue reading

Lake County Deputy Supervisor of Assessments to Replace 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. Robert Ross the Chief Deputy Supervisor of Assessments in Lake County is scheduled to replace retiring McHenry … Continue reading

Campaigning for Assessor 31 Years Ago

I happened across the following letter to the Crystal Lake Herald that was published February 9, 1977, prior to the Algonquin Township primary election that pitted appointed incumbent Ed Traub against Forrest Hare’s former top assistant Bob Kunz. I thought … Continue reading

Campaigning for Assessor 31 Years Ago

I happened across the following letter to the Crystal Lake Herald that was published February 9, 1977, prior to the Algonquin Township primary election that pitted appointed incumbent Ed Traub against Forrest Hare’s former top assistant Bob Kunz. I thought … Continue reading

McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayberry Thinks “Negative” Multipliers May Be in Offing Next Year

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 … Continue reading