The 2013 tax bills (payable in 2014) that were recently mailed to residents of School District U-46 and Community College District 509 were incorrectly calculated by the Illinois Department of Revenue, but corrected adjustments will be made on next year's tax bills.

My office received hundreds of phone calls from residents of these taxing districts after the tax bills were issued last month.  I made inquiries with the Illinois Department of Revenue and DuPage County Clerk’s office regarding the calculation of the 2013 tax rates.  I also encouraged residents to contact the Department of Revenue with questions about the rate increases. 

These inquiries led to the discovery that the Illinois Department of Revenue miscalculated the apportionment of the tax burden between the Cook, DuPage, and Kane County portions of the School District U-46 and Community College District 509.

The miscalculation was based on incorrect assessment data submitted by Kane County to the Department. Each year the Illinois Department of Revenue must collect data from all three counties and calculate the shared burden of the district to ensure all residents in the district are paying their fair share.

Because of this miscalculation, the tax burden was shifted to the DuPage residents of the district, causing the excessive tax rate increases. Tax bills would have increased by approximately 6 to 7 percent even without this miscalculation, due to increased spending by the taxing districts  (despite declining assessed valuations due to the declining real estate market of the past several years), instead of the current increases in excess of 10%

Most residents who called my office have acknowledged that they are not unhappy about the assessed valuations, and have noted that my office has been properly reducing their valuations to respond to the declining real estate market. They are primarily upset with the rising tax rates causing their tax bills to increase.

I am pleased that the Department of Revenue will make the corrected adjustment next year.  While the legal function of my office is limited to assessing properties, I will monitor the tax rate calculations closely next year to ensure that the corrected adjustments are made.

Update, Septmber 16, 2014
Because the error made by the Kane County Clerk involved the 2012 and 2013 assessments, many residents are under the impression that Wayne Township residents were overcharged in 2012 and 2013.  This is not the case.  In Wayne Township, only the 2013 tax bills, payable in 2014, were impacted by the apportionment error.  The 2012 tax bills for Cook County were inflated due to the error.  For more information, please call the County Clerk's office at (630)407-5540.

Please also read these articles by Dave Gathman of the Elgin Courier News, one from July 1, 2014, and another from August 22, 2014 which provide a detailed explanations of how the error was made by the Kane County Clerk's office.