Challenges to property tax assessments more popular
By AMBER KROSEL and BRETT ROWLAND
As the due date for hundreds of thousands of property-tax bills came and went last week, more McHenry County residents are expected to challenge their property-tax assessments this year – and be successful.
Rick Bellairs, a Woodstock Realtor, began challenging his own assessments 15 years ago and now helps customers with the appeals process. Last year, he saw a 95 percent success rate with the 20 people who contacted him. On average, Bellairs said, he helped shave about 15 percent off residents’ tax bills for the following year – from as little as $500 to in excess of $5,000.
This year, he’s already got a waiting list of more than 50 for the fall appeals process.
The process is fairly easy, McHenry Township resident Bill Cunningham said.
“I’ve done it the past two years,” said Cunningham, who might appeal his assessment again in the fall. “This is not rocket science.”
“If you do your homework, all your information’s right there,” Cunningham added.
When home prices were increasing, property assessment challenges were less common. The Board of Review, an appointed body within the McHenry County Office of Assessments, is responsible for all property value assessment challenges at the county level.
From 1996 to 2006, the number of parcels challenged in board hearings ranged from 540 to slightly more than 1,000.
As real estate values dropped and the economy ebbed lower, more people began to appeal to the Board of Review.
In 2006, board hearings dealt with 758 parcels.
That number jumped to 1,182 the following year and has climbed higher since. In 2009, 4,056 parcels were discussed in board hearings, according to McHenry County Office of Assessments records. Although the county doesn’t track how many of these appeals were successful, Algonquin Township Assessor Robert Kunz estimated that about 80 percent of the 1,544 parcels challenged from his township received a lower assessment last year.
“It is an unprecedented situation for all of us,” Kunz said.
Township assessors are using different standards to determine property values than the Board of Review, Kunz added.
Assessors use data compiled from the three previous years while the board considers much narrower and more recent sales data.
Because home prices continue to drop, Kunz said, it is not surprising that the board has lowered many assessments.
“The most recent sales aren’t reflective of the last three years, and that is the conflict,” he noted. “Any property owner should be able to have their assessment reduced if the Board of Review is using a different standard than the three-year cycle.”
Assessments might go down this year, but not as quickly as the market, McHenry County Chief Assessment Officer Robert Ross said. The appeals process can serve to apportion the payment of taxes; it doesn’t take money away from local governments such as villages and school districts.
“There is a shift in the overall tax burden when any owner is successful in appealing,” Ross said. “Think of it like a pie. If your slice gets smaller, everyone else’s slice gets a little bit bigger.”
How to appeal
Property owners have 30 days from the time that their township’s assessments are published in the fall to challenge them.
Appeal forms are available online or at the county assessor’s office. A hearing is scheduled to handle every complaint. The property owner has 15 minutes to present a challenge to the assessment before a panel of certified hearing officers, who typically render a ruling on the spot.
