JANUARY 7, 2010

Jo Daviess Chief County Assessment Officer Publishes 2009 Changes to Assessed Valuations 

No Township Multiplier Applied to 2009 Assessed Values

Relief Granted to Certain Lake Front Lots

On December 29, 2009 the Chief County Assessment Officer for Jo Daviess County  (CCAO) published her list of changes to the assessed valuations of land and improvements located in Thompson Township.   The values of approximately 200 parcels were changed.  Property Owners should check the Jo Daviess County Website  www.jodaviess.org or the Apple Canyon Lake Website  www.applecanyonlake.org  to determine if the assessed value of their property was  changed.  There may have been some increases.  Our resources do not enable us to make an examination of the effect on each parcel.

In view of the fact that every parcel in Thompson Township had an Equalization Factor  (Multiplier) applied to it in each of the past five years, it is comforting to note that NO Multiplier was applied to the 2009 assessed values.   This means that unless the assessed value of a parcel was changed by the Notice published on December 29th, the assessed value of parcels in Thompson Township remains the same for 2009 as it was in 2008.

We must repeat, however, the cautionary comment made by the CCAO in her letter of October 20, 2009 where she first reported that there would not be a multiplier for 2009 assessments. (See Useful Links below for the letter.)   The CCAO stated there were two scenarios that could result in the imposition of a Multiplier.  First, if at the CCAO’s level the changes reducing assessed values resulted in the lowering of the sales ratio level below 33.33% for the township, that could cause the Illinois Department of Revenue to issue a multiplier, which would then be applied at the Board of Review level.  Second, if the Board of Review lowers individual assessed values so much that the sales ratio falls below 33.33% then the Department will issue a County multiplier.  We just don’t know if the reductions made by the CCAO in the published Notice has had the effect she identified.  And, until the Board of Review has acted on the 2009 cases that it will hear later, we don’t know what the effect of that will be. 

The most common change in the published notice related to Lake Front Lots.   From our preliminary examination, it appears that all Lake Front Lots that had not obtained a reduction in their assessed value from the Board of Review from their 2008 values were lowered to make substantially all Lake Front Lots bear substantially the same assessed value.   The Committee is pleased to see this result since in its August 5, 2009 Position Paper it argued that every Lake Front Lot that did not obtain a reduced assessment from the Board of Review was being assessed at more than 33.33% of its market value.  Obviously the CCAO recognized the merit of that position and has unilaterally taken appropriate corrective action to remedy this inequity.

Unfortunately, we continue to receive reports from property owners who are convinced that their buildings and land are still assessed at amounts far greater that 33.33% of their market value as of January 1, 2009, the assessment date.  We encourage all such owners to file Assessment Complaints with the Board of Review before January 28, 2010. 

It is our understanding that personal appearances before the Board of Review may not be necessary.   Property owners may be permitted to present their case by telephone using the County’s conference telephone.  Contact the CCAO’s office for further confirmation.

The Committee Members are available to provide such general advice regarding the procedures that must be followed to file and proceed with Complaints before the Board of Review.  Given the fact that every case involves unique buildings, it is impossible for the Committee Members to provide a list of properties that are comparable for individual property owners.

Thank you,

Committee for Fair Real Estate Taxes at Apple Canyon Lake

Marge Smith   Kevin Kavanaugh       Joe Forman    Ron Moore      Dick Brennan

Contact the Committee at  info@aclfairtaxes.com

JULY 10, 2009

• BOARD OF REVIEW APPROVES DECREASES IN ASSESSED VALUATION IN 97% OF THE CASES DECIDED. 
   
• COMMITTEE  WORKING ON POSITION PAPER. 
   
• 2009 TAX BILL WILL HAVE ANOTHER EQUALIZATION INCREASE!  

BOARD OF REVIEW RESULTS. The Jo Daviess Board of Review (BOR) made decisions in 176 Assessment Complaints, and in 97% of these cases ACL owners were granted a reduction in their assessed valuation.  These cases involved 26 vacant lots and 150 improved lots.   157 (90%) of the owners received more than a 5% reduction; 41 (23%) of the owners received a reduction of more than 20%.  Almost 50% of the reductions were in the range of 10% to 20%.  Five owners received reductions of 40% or more.   While a number of Complaints were not decided this appears to be the result of the BOR finding that those Assessment Complaints were not presented in the required form or the Owners failed to either request a hearing or attend a scheduled hearing.

Some additional striking results from the BOR decisions are:

1. The 2008 Equalization factor of 1.231 was applied only to land, but the assessed value of all improvements (buildings) was reduced by the BOR from $43,932,444 to $40,125,744, or by $3,806,700, or 8.7%.
    
2. The BOR reduced the assessed value of land alone from $26,841,780 to $20,814,276, or $6,027,504, or 22.5%.  Thus almost every owner who challenged the 23% equalization factor had it removed!
    
3. The total assessed value was reduced from $70,774,224 to $60,940,020, or $9,834,204, or  13%.         

  
The total number of cases decided represents 6.5% of all of the lots at ACL.  The Committee believes these results demonstrate that the property assessment system in Thompson Township is broken, and that it has been for years. 

POSITION PAPER BEING PREPARED.                        Using the results of the BOR decisions  along with other studies we have made, the Committee is currently preparing a “Position Statement and Recommendations” to be submitted to those Jo Daviess County officials who have responsibility for the assessment process. 

We will recommend that an independent property assessment firm be engaged to assess all of the vacant lots, many of which have been under assessed for years, and to assess many improved properties which are clearly over assessed.  After this Position Statement has been submitted we will post it on this web site.

ANOTHER EQUALIZATION FACTOR IS COMING IN 2009.               We anticipate that for the 2009 real estate tax year the Illinois Department of Revenue (DOR) will direct that yet another equalization factor be added to Thompson Township.  This will happen again because the DOR performs an annual “sales ratio study” which compares the actual sales of properties with their assessed value.  This study uses the sales data from the past three years.  The 2009 study will use 2006, 2007, 2008.   Having examined the 2006 sales data that was used in the 2008 study, we know that the 2006 sales prices are more than the assessed valuations, especially for the 90 vacant lots that were sold that year.

When the Chief County Assessment Officer (CCAO) publishes the required notice in the FLASH that another equalization factor is being added, we will post that notice on this website and on the ACLPOA website.  Owners will have 30 days to again file Assessment Complaints.   We expect that many of those complaints will allege that the new assessed value of the property is either 1.) more that 33.33% of the property’s fair market value, or 2.) that the new assessed value is greater than the value of other similar properties. 

The Committee will endeavor to make available to ACL owners any data that it has to assist owners in preparing their complaints.  We strongly urge all ACL Owners who think they may want to file a 2009 Assessment Complaint to begin to identify other properties that are similar to theirs as soon as practicable.  The tools needed to do this are an ACL map that shows all of the lots, and the schedule of assessed valuations that was published after the 2007 quadrennial assessment.   A copy of the Real Estate Assessments for 2007 and the Public Notice of Real Estate Assessment Changes by Board of Review for 2008 are available through a link to this website.  The data in the Real Estate Assessments for 2007 reflects the 2007 Quadrennial Reassessment.  To arrive at the 2008 assessed value, two equalization factors must be added:  1) the 1.1256 factor applied to homesite and building in 2007 and 2) the 1.231 factor applied only to land in 2008.  The Public Notice of Real Estate Assessment Changes by Board of Review for 2008 reflects the adjusted assessed values of those properties for which complaints were filed and relief was given.  This list of adjusted assessed values provides the data that will help property owners identify other properties similar to theirs in preparing their complaints. 

If you have any questions, please send us an email at info@aclfairtaxes.com.

Thank you.
The Committee

April 28, 2009 - BOARD OF REVIEW NOTICES MAILED. OWNERS MUST REQUEST HEARING BY 3:00 PM ON MAY 1ST.

On April 24, 2009 the Jo Daviess County Board of Review mailed a "TENTATIVE NOTICE" to every ACL owner  who had filed an Assessment Complaint.  From preliminary reports it appears that some owners obtained all or substantially all of the reduction in their assessed value that they had requested.  Some owners received a partial reduction and some received no reduction. 

The Tentative Notice sent to Owners who received all or a substantial reduction stated that the Reason for Change was the property had been "Revalued".  Many of those who received a partial reduction were notified that the Reason for Change was "Removed factor from land". From the amount of the reduction it appears that the 23% Equalization Factor that had been applied to all land in Thompson Township for the 2008 tax year was removed from those lots.  It also appears that the Board considered each case individually and did not remove the Equalization Factor in every case.  Why it didn't remains unknown at this point. 

All of the Tentative Notices state:

The Committee urges every Owner to call and request a hearing, if you have not received substantially all of the reduction you requested.  While the time permitted by the Board to make the call and the dates for the hearings provide very little time to appear, Owners should make every effort to both schedule and attend a hearing to vigorously present their case. 

Attorney James Nack will request a hearing for the test cases filed by the Kavanaugh's and the Forman's.  The Assessment Complaints filed by Smith and Brennan resulted in Tentative Decisions that granted the reductions requested, so those cases cannot proceed to a hearing.

We hope to gather as much information as we can on the actions taken by the Board on the 200+ Complaints filed.   Please let us know as soon as possible what Tentative Decision was made in your case!!  Emailing the information to: info@aclfairtaxes.com or mail a copy of your decision to: Committee for Fair R.E.T. at ACL, P.O. Box 51, Scales Mound, IL  61075.

Thank you.
The Committee

April 17, 2009 - Progress

Progress:  Since our last update the committee has received an additional 80+ voluntary contributions, bringing the total committed to slightly over 200. While we find this very encouraging, we urge all home owners to become involved with our efforts so that we can exhibit a strong showing from our community.  As you know, it has been the committee’s goal to obtain Fair Real Estate Taxes here at ACL. We know that the first step in obtaining the goal is to have FAIR ASSESSMENTS. To that end, the committee is actively involved in gathering data showing the disparity in assessments across the various property classes, which will be used to further our efforts in our challenges.

If you have not already done so, please send your voluntary contributions to the Committee for Fair RET at ACL P.O. Box 51, Scales Mound, Ill. 61075.

Assessor:  The Committee has learned that the Board of Review (BOR) has begun reviewing the challenges from Thompson Township. Because of the large number of complaints (203) it is still very likely that letters from the BOR will not be mailed out until after May 1st. This is consistent with the Assessor’s office practice of mailing out all of the notices together. Once you receive the notice, you have some options which are explained in the following:

1. If the BOR makes no adjustment to your assessment, you then have the option of requesting a hearing in front of the BOR. Please follow the instructions on your notice to ensure a timely response.
2. If the BOR makes an adjustment to your assessment and you are satisfied with their ruling, you need not do anything else. If however, you disagree with their recommended change, follow the instructions noted in item A.

 

In either case, as soon as you receive a notice from the BOR please contact us at info@aclfairtaxes.com or, by mailing to Committee for Fair R.E.T. at ACL, P.O.Box 51, Scales Mound, IL 61075, so we may begin to analyze the information for possible use at a later date.

We will continue to post updates as needed, and be sure to read the article in the upcoming edition of May’s Apple Core.

Thank you
The Committee

March 30, 2009 - Updates

Downloads- Several links have been added to the website to enable you to view the four test case complaints that were filed with the Assessor's office. In addition to the complaints, we have also included Mike Doyle's analysis for 2005, 2006, and 2007 as well as Jim Nack's legal memorandum which accompanied the four complaints.

Assessor- We have learned that over 300 challenges to the assessments were filed in Jo Daviess County. As reported earlier, 203 were from Apple Canyon Lake. We have also learned that the Board of Review (BOR) will be reviewing the challenges from the other townships before concentrating on ours. This would probably place the time frame for hearing from them sometime in May. As soon as you receive any correspondence from the BOR, please contact us at info@aclfairtaxes.com.

Progress- To date, we have received in excess of one hundred and thirty five (135) donations to fund our challenges. We thank all of you who have contributed, and encourage all property owners to join in our effort by sending your voluntary contribution to the Committee for Fair R.E.T. P.O. Box 51, Scales Mound, IL 61075.

 
Thank you
The Committee