Property Assessment and Tax News
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good News
Exemptions are increasing. The General Homestead Exemption (GHE) and Senior Homestead Exemption (SHE) are increasing. The GHE is increasing from 6,000 to 8,000. The SHE is increasing from 5,000 to 8,000. The GHE is granted to owner occupied primary residence. The SHE is granted to owner occupied primary residence to where the owner is 65 years or older. These exemptions reduced the taxable value of your property. The exemptions will be in place for tax year 2023 with taxes payable in 2024.
Seniors with both exemptions will receive the most benefit. Others with solely the GHE will receive less benefit. Effectively this increase in exemption “squeezes the balloon” shifting the tax burden from owner occupied properties to others such as rentals, commercial, and industrial taxpayers.
The Bad News
Under Illinois law tax spending will increase for tax year 2023 with taxes payable in 2024. Under the Illinois Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) local units of government can increase their spending by the consumer price index (CPI) or 5% whichever is less. As we all know, inflation is affecting everything including taxes. Given the current rate of inflation under the PTELL law spending will increase 5%. Again, it is very likely tax bills will increase 5%.
The Ugly
Tax Year 2023 is the Quadrennial Reassessment. Once every 4 years assessors are required to reevaluate all property values, bringing them to a fair cash value using the 3 years of preceding sales. Given the market increases we have seen over the past 3 years means there will be increases to most property assessed values.
Some properties received larger increases than others as reflected in the market. For higher priced properties our assessed values were closer to the actual market value and these properties may not have appreciated as much as other property groups. The lower priced properties have seen the biggest increases in market value and our assessments significantly lagged behind. I repeat the phrase, our once affordable township is no longer affordable.
Assessment Notices will be mailed September 21 The appeal deadline to file a formal appeal with the Lake County Board of Review is October 23. . I encourage you to contact my office with any questions.
We make every effort to simplify the process and provide instructional information on evaluating your assessment and filing an appeal. Please go to my website for instructional information. The Lake County website is an extremely useful site that has a wealth of information about property assessments, characteristic data and taxes. Both websites are below.
• Phone: 1-847-356-2383
• Email: Assessor@LakeVillaAssessor.org
Links
Lake Villa Township Assessor’s page “Assessment Review” and “How To Instructions”
Lake County Website for Property Information
• Assessment, Real Estate Taxes, and Property Tax Extension data
http://www.tax.lakecountyil.gov
Jeffrey A. Lee
37850 N. IL Rte. 59
Lake Villa, IL 60046
Phone: 847-356-2383
Email: Assessor@lakevillaassessor.org
Office Hours: Monday – Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm