Algonquin Township Assessor Bob Kunz, in his last term, having taken office in the mid-1970’s, comments on Realtor Terry Pounds commentary: 1) most people in McHenry County are not under assessed, as the equalization process corrects for that potential. 2) … Continue reading
Category Archives: Assessments
Realtor Terry Pounds offered the following commentary on a property tax relief bill that State Rep. David McSweeney has introduced Saturday: House Bill 358 permanently freezes property tax rates in Illinois for all units of government beginning in tax year … Continue reading
Every so often, it seems useful to share measurements of assessment quality among McHenry County Townships. These are basically measures of the work of township assessors, although the quality of their work can be increased or decreased by changes made … Continue reading
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
A press release from several Lake County Township Assessors: Several elected township assessors and taxpayers file federal lawsuit against Lake County, Martin Paulson, the Lake County Chief County Assessment Officer and the Lake County Board of Review CHICAGO, IL. – Five elected … Continue reading
Real estate assessments are being hiked by 8% in a lot of townships. That has to be scaring people who don’t understand the property tax system. There are two parts to the tax bill: the assessment the tax rate On … Continue reading
Under the Property Tax Cap, a non-Home Rule Unit (think municipalities over 25,000 people like Chicago, Crystal Lake and McHenry, plus municipalities who have approved Home Rule by referendum vote lie Barrington Hills) may not raise its tax levy by … Continue reading
Because of various state financial assistance programs which are based upon local property tax effort, the Illinois Revenue Department is mandated to equalize assessments among counties. State law (which I helped write) says that real estate assessments have to be … Continue reading
District 2 McHenry County Board candidate John Reinert sent the following after reading a story about rising taxes on McHenry County Blog: I’m out of town this week so I am unable to post this pic of a tax assessment … Continue reading
Crack researcher Susan Handelsmann of rural Woodstock has put together a “how to” piece about figuring out what your school board has done with school finances. It is presented below for McHenry Grade School District 15, but can be adapted … Continue reading
Burton Township’s Candice Marquette and Paul Kaup offer the following for your consideration: McHenry County Homeowners, 2015 is a quadrennial home assessment year in Illinois but many of us who reside in the Burton Township weren’t prepared for knockout upset … Continue reading
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
The legal publication that helps keep newspapers alive appeared this week for Nunda Township properties. Assessments for Algonquin and Grafton Townships–the largest in McHenry County–have not yet been published. Appeal forms and other information can be found here. At the … Continue reading
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
Some readers are into statistical information about government. Here are the latest from the McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments: … Continue reading
More people showed up at a property tax meeting with Grafton Township Assessor Al Zielinski Wednesday night than attended the AFSCME union rally in the Woodstock Square. The Lakewood Village Board indicated last month that it would invited Zielinski to … Continue reading
From Lakewood Village Trustee Paul Serwatka: Town Hall Meeting with Grafton Township Tax Assessor As promised, on Wednesday, June 10th at 7 pm, I will be hosting our very first “WE ARE LAKEWOOD” informational Town hall meeting. Grab your property … Continue reading
The Lakewood Village Trustees elected last month were sworn in Tuesday night. Re-elected were Carl Davis and Ken Santowski. They were joined by newcomer Paul Serwatka, who got more votes than any other candidate and did so without having his … Continue reading
Back in the 1970’s, Algonquin Township Assessor Forrest Hare computerized his office, probably the first to do so in the State of Illinois. He also took an interest in how assessment could be made more accurate. Hare looked at measures … Continue reading
When Governor Richard Ogilvie left office, he left only one thing in the staff part of the second floor complex. Due to the vagaries of the calendar, I guess that Governor Dan Walker was sworn in after the Illinois General … Continue reading