Assessed Value
What is it? What can I do about it? How does it affect my property tax bill? The assessed value of a property is a dollar value assigned to the property by the Township Assessor, which generally represents one-third of the fair market value of the property. (If you purchased your house this year for $150,000, the assessed value before any exemptions could be estimated at $50,000)
Each year your Township Assessor assigns values to property. As inflation rates change, as properties are bought and sold, or as remodeling or other improvements are completed, the assessor must fairly assign values to the changes. In the fall, the Assessor publishes an assessment roll in a newspaper of general circulation within the township. Assessment notices are also mailed to each property owner detailing what the proposed assessed value is for the property. An Assessor's valuations are subject to appeal by the taxpayer. For details on the appeal process, you can contact either your Township Assessor or the Lake County Assessor.
Exemptions
What are they? Do I qualify for one? How does the exemption affect my tax bill? An exemption is an amount which is deducted from the equalized assessed value (EAV) and effectively reduces the amount of taxes a property owner pays.
The Illinois General Assembly has provided tax relief by granting certain homestead exemptions and tax deferrals. The annual Homestead Exemption of up to $3,500 of EAV is provided certain property owned and used exclusively for residential purposes. Other additional exemptions exist for (1) Senior Citizens - where an annual reduction of $2,000 of EAV may be realized, and (2) Disabled Veterans - where the County Assessor may annually exempt up to $50,000 of EAV of property owned and used exclusively by disabled veterans for residential purposes.
The Home Improvement Exemption allows owners of single family residences to make up to $30,000 in home improvements without increasing the EAV of their property for at least four years, thus delaying tax increases on the value of the improvements. For further information on exemptions, call either your Township Assessor or the Lake County Assessor.
Taxing Body
What is it? How come there are so many? Who is responsible for what? Every tax bill lists in detail all the taxing bodies levying taxes against a property. A taxing body is a legal governmental entity with elected or appointed officials whose entity is responsible for providing a service to you, the taxpayer. There are many levels of government represented on your tax bill. Each provides a multitude of different services to the property owner and each funds a portion of their activities by levying taxes.
Each taxing body has a geographic area to which services are provided. The location of your property will determine which taxing bodies serve you. Your property could be in grade school District 56, while your neighbor across the street could be in grade school 50. A listing of all the taxing bodies serving Gurnee is provided below:
Village of Gurnee
Lake County
Lake County Forest Preserve District
Central Lake County Joint Action Water Agency
Warren Township
Warren Township Road and Bridge
Warren Gravel
School District 56
School District 50
High School District 121
Community College District 532
Gurnee Park District
Tax Levies
What are they? How are they determined? Am I protected against rising taxes? How can my opinion be heard? Tax levies are the requests for money made by each taxing body. Each taxing body develops its own request. All the requests are made in the form of a tax levy ordinance which the officials of the taxing body must approve. The tax levy ordinances are forwarded to the County Clerk's office for tax extension prior to the close of each calander year.
Each taxing body goes through a process of determining how much money to request in their levy. Each taxing body's process is different. Once the number is determined, there are various restrictions/ requirements imposed upon taxing bodies. Each restriction is independent of the others. The following are some of the restrictions imposed on the taxing bodies.
(1) Purpose of Use of Tax Levy Funds. State laws provide taxing bodies limited rights to tax for specific puposes. Money levied for a specific purpose may only be used for that purpose. For example, a tax levy for Fire Protection can only be used for fire protection expenses. Those funds cannot be used for street repair or any other nbon-fire protection purpose.
(2) Individual Rate Limits. State law limits the amount of money that can be levied for many specific purpose funds. The limits can only be changed by local voters or State legislation. For example, Fire Protection levies in the Village of Gurnee are limited to $0.30 per $100 of equalized assessed value.
(3)Truth-in-Taxation. Every year when calculating the amount to be levied, a Truth-in-Taxation calculation must be made by each taxing body. (Gurnee's Truth-in-Taxation hearing is held in late November of December). Simply put, if the proposed tax levy is 5% more than the prior year's tax extension, a public hearing is required. A notice must be placed in the paper announcing the hearing. It is at this hearing where citizens can voice their opinions regarding the proposed levy.
(4) Property Tax Extension Limitation Law. Commonly known as the "Tax Cap," this law became effective in 1991 for non-home rule taxing bodies. In general, it limits the annual growth in the amount of taxes to be extended to the lesser of 5%, or the consumer price index of the prior year.
Tax Extensions
What are they? Who does this? Tax extensions are the ending numbers resulting from tax levies going to the County and filtering through all the restrictions. Extensions take into account tax rate limits, tax cap limits, and other abatements. Extensions represent the actual dollars which will be billed on behalf of the taxing body.
The County Clerk makes the extension calculation for each taxing body's levy. Generally, in April of each year, the County Clerk prepares a certification of assessed values, tax extensions, and tax rates for each taxing body. Your tax bill is calculated shortly afterward.
Why are my taxes going up?
This is the most asked question.
There are two basic components to your tax bill. They are your Equalized Assessed Value (EAV) and each taxing body's tax extension. A property tax increase could be the result of (1) an increase in your EAV; (2) an increase in the taxing body's tax extensions; or (3) both the EAV and the taxing body's extensions may have increased.
As mentioned earlier, each taxing body has a specific geographic area that it serves. The geographic area has a total EAV, of which your property is a small piece. If your propery increases in value faster that the entire geographic area, your piece of the pie becomes larger.
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Last year
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This Year
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% Change
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Taxing body
Total EAV
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$575,225,812
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$622,033,013
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+8.1%
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Taxpayer's Property EAV
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$58,514
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$61,896
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+5.8
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Taxing Body Tax Extension
(Village Portion Only)
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$1,282,759
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$1,374,693
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+7.2
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Taxpayer's Tax Bill (Village Portion)
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$130.48
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$136.79
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+4.8%
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District 50
Total Tax Bill
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$3,918.68
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$4,200.88
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+7.2%
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District 56
Total Tax Bill
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$4,522.54
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$4,861.93
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+7.5%
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This is a double edged sword for the taxpayer. On the one hand, a higher EAV means the value of the property is greater and, if sold, a better price could be received. On the other hand, a higher EAV means the amount of taxes to be paid will probably be higher.
Given the actual changes in EAV for both the taxing body and the taxpayer, if the taxpayer's total EAV was exactly the same as last year, the taxpayer's tax bill would have gone down by $1.17 from $ 130.48 to $129.31.
Once the tax bill has been delivered to the property owner, answering the question "why?" is a matter of doing some math. However, after the tax bill is delivered, there isn't a lot the taxpayer can do about the amount of taxes owed.
The information above is an actual case for a current tax bill. In this actual case, the bottom line taxes paid to this one taxing body by the property owner increased by 4.8%, even though the taxing body was limited to the Tax Cap increase amount of 3.3%, which was the rate of inflation. The taxes increased above the 3.3% level because the Taxpayer's property EAV (+2.6%) increased along with the taxing body's total EAV.
What can I do before the tax bill comes?
The township assessor who sets your assessed values is an elected official. The trustees of the taxing bodies who levy taxes are either elected officials or appointed by elected officials. Elected officials are elected by you to serve the best interests of the community. Keeping elected officials informed about your opinions on significant issues helps them better serve the interests of the community.
When the asssessment notice arrives in your mail-box, ask yourself "Is the amount reasonable?" If your answer is NO, then find out about the appeals process and enter your objection. If you don't have any exemptions, ask your assessor if you qualify for any and make the appropriate application for exemptions. The assessor's office is at the Warren Township Center.
Because your property has ten or more taxing bodies, keep informed about what each is doing. Most of the local newspapers cover the board meetings of the various taxing bodies. The board meetings are generally open to the public. Find out when they are and attend. Each of the taxing bodies has a secretary who prepares agendas for upcoming meetings and minutes for past meetings. Call the secretary and ask when meetings will discuss tax levy issues. Watch for Truth-in-Taxation public hearing notices in the newspapers in the fall each year. Attend those you have strong feelings about.
Calendar of Key Points
The following calander provides approximate time periods for key points in the property tax process.
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July - Sept.
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Assessors complete their books, compiling the new value for all property in the township, and submit to the County.
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Sept. - Oct.
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Blue Cards showing the assessed value of property are mailed by the County. The County publishes the assessed values in the newspaper.
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Oct. - Nov.
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Within one month from publication date of the township assessment, appeals of assessment values may be filled. Before filing, assessors recommend contacting them first to resolve any issues that may not require appeal.
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Nov. - Dec.
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Appeal date set by the County
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December
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Truth-in-Taxation hearings are held by the taxing districts when their tax levy exceeds the prior year's tax extension by 5%. Taxing districts file levy with the County.
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April
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Taxing districts receive notice of EAV and tax extension from the County for verification.
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1st week of May
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Tax bill mailed by the County
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1st week of June
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First property tax installment due
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1st week of Sept.
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Second property tax installment due
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The Tax Assessor Association has prepared a complete guide to the property tax system. For more information, contact your assessor's office.
Related Areas
Portions from "Understanding Your Tax Bill" - Village of Libertyville Newsletter
