Property Assessments Due to Arrive Soon

Start watching your mailbox. In the next week or so you should be receiving your assessment notices. That's earlier than years past due to a recent change in state law that provides counties the ability to publish assessments prior to Aug. 10 and maintain a 30-day assessment appeal period.

The County Assessment Officials Association worked with State Senator Pam Althoff of McHenry to get this timeline changed through the Illinois State Legislature. With the huge increase in the number of property owners appealing their assessment valuations, it is crucial that the process start earlier in order to get through the appeal hearings before the tax billing cycle begins.

"It's important for property owners to note this change, because they might see their assessment notice arrive earlier than in previous years," Chief County Assessment Officer Martin Paulson explained. "Everyone will still have 30 days to file an appeal, but it will really give our office a head start to meet the increase demands of the assessment appeal process."

"We had about 25,000 appeals in Lake County last year," said Carl Jackson, Assistant Chief County Assessment Officer for Lake County. That is a significant increase over the 9,700 appeals in 2007.

For questions about your assessed value, start with your local township assessor. For other information and tools to help you evaluate your assessment, visit the Chief County Assessment Officer's website. 

-Portions submitted by Lake County Assessors Office