From the Assessor

From the Fall, 2009, Wayne Township Newsletter

Michael E. Musson, C.I.A.O.
(630) 231-8900 Fax: (630) 231-9534
e-mail: assistance@waynetownshipassessor.com
Website: www.waynetownshipassessor.com

My staff and I have completed the 2009 assessments. Wayne Township properties received a 1.00 equalization factor from the DuPage County Supervisor of Assessments, meaning that most assessments did not change for 2009, unless a change was made to the property.
My staff and I continue to hear from residents who expect to see immediate reductions in assessed values due to the declining real estate market. While I would like nothing better than to be able to adjust values to reflect the most recent market activity, Illinois state statute prevents me from taking this action. I am required by law to determine each year’s assessments based on all of the arm’s-length sales that occurred during the previous three years. Distressed sales such as foreclosures are not arm’s-length transactions, and state law does not allow us to consider them. The 2009 assessments were determined using sales that occurred between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2008. When sale prices are escalating, the use of three years of sales tends to prevent sudden jumps in the case of market swings. In escalating markets, assessments cannot catch up to the market; however, in market downturns it takes several years of declining sale prices for the market to catch up. Sale prices were increasing for many years until 2006, then leveled off in 2006 and 2007, and began to decline in 2008. The steepest declines have occurred in 2009; however, state law did not permit me to consider any 2009 sales activity in determining the 2009 assessments. If I were to reduce assessments based on current sales, the DuPage County Supervisor of Assessments would apply a factor to raise assessments to the level dictated by the 2006-2008 sales.

Based on the declines in sale prices that have occurred in 2008 and 2009, assessments will finally begin to fall in 2010. Because of the three-year sales requirement, these reductions will likely be moderate, but will continue for a year or two after the market eventually (we hope) begins to pick up again.

It is important to keep in mind that across-the-board decreases in assessments, when they occur, will not reduce taxes. Assessments are used to divide up the “tax pie.” The tax pie is determined by the spending of your taxing bodies. Changes in assessments do not change the size of the pie. If all assessments go down but spending remains the same, tax rates will go up, and taxes will not change.

The equalization notice and any individual assessment changes will be published in the Examiner newspapers on August 26, 2009. The final date to appeal a 2009 assessment is September 25, 2009. You may obtain an appeal form by visiting my office. To obtain a form by mail, please call my office at (630)231-8900. Appeal forms are also available the DuPage County Supervisor of Assessments’ website, http://www.dupageco.org/soa/index.cfm. An assessment appeal may be based either on uniformity with similar properties, or based on market value, using arm’s-length sales of similar properties that occurred between 2006 and 2008. Please call my office for more information.