Assessment hikes revolting Developments

By Marilyn Kennedy Melia | Special to the Tribune
October 28,2007

Maybe it's something about our national heritage, but we tend to react strongly any time taxes seem unfair.

It dates back to the Boston Tea Party of Revolutionary times to today's howl from homeowners over high property taxes.

The revolt is being sparked by what looks to many like a disconnect from the reality of today's lower home prices.

In Northfield Township in north suburban Cook County, for instance, new assessments are based on sale prices from the previous three years -- 2004, 2005 and 2006. (Cook is unique among Illinois counties; every three years one-third of the county is reassessed. Law mandates that other Illinois counties be reassessed at least once every four years.)

"In each of those years -- except maybe the last half of 2006 -- the housing market was hot, and prices were rising," says Patricia Damisch, Northfield Township assessor. "Now there's been a slowdown and a decrease in some spots."

So, Damisch says she's receiving record numbers of vehement complaints from homeowners that the assessment that landed in their mailboxes a few weeks ago doesn't reflect current prices.

This anger is hardly local, says Pete Sepp, a spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. Assessment values that ballooned in the boom are not only prompting more appeals from homeowners, says Sepp, but also are causing state legislatures to consider proposals to ease the tax burden. At least 20 states are mulling property-tax related measures. That includes Illinois, which just extended a tax break for Cook County.

And despite the quadrennial reassessment standard in Illinois, some townships and counties do it annually. In DuPage County, for example, four-year valuations are updated by tracking average home prices the three years preceding the formal reassessment.

But no matter the calculation, assessments look back. "It's hard for the taxpayer to understand, but we are using the sales transactions that have occurred," says Martin Paulson, Lake County supervisor of assessments.

Outside of Cook County, assessed values should be about one-third of the market price of a home. Even if homeowners receive a new assessment now, the value is determined by sales last year and previous years.

Still, if a homeowner sees price drops in his neighborhood, it may behoove him to point out the trend out in an appeal, says Mark Armstrong, Kane County supervisor of assessments.

But making a case for a lower assessment is easier when based on inequities than on market value, Paulson points out.

Inequities -- your home being assessed at a higher value than similar homes in the neighborhood -- are the tried and true way of winning an appeal. Errors in your property description, say your home being listed with more square feet than it has, is another winner.

But Paulson says a few assessments are being lowered based on falling prices in their neighborhood.

Overall, declining prices should be reflected in the next reassessment, notes Maura Kownacki, spokeswoman for the Cook County assessor's office.

Moreover, the assessments homeowners receive now won't be translated into a tax bill until later; new, bigger assessments in north suburban Cook, for instance, show up on tax bills until next fall, says Kownacki.

And, the Illinois law that gives Cook County homeowners an expanded exemption to help limit their annual taxable-assessed value increase to 7 percent should help.

Any time assessments look out-of-whack, though, assessors say appeal. Many county and township Web sites offer capabilities to search how your assessment compares with that of neighboring properties.

More than half of homeowners who appeal win a reduction, says Sepp. That's because they typically make a good case.

"It's like fighting a traffic ticket," Sepp says. "If you know you were speeding, you don't do anything about it. But if you know you have a case, you'll go to court and fight."