August 21, 2010 Newsletter

IT’S AN OLD PROBLEM. As you undoubtedly know, the earstwhile genii at the Cook County Assessor’s office have sent out their proposed assessments for 2010. Ignoring these is one of the greatest sources of tax increase there is.

There is no secret that property values have continued going down, especially if you are in a flood plain. We have until September 20th to file appeals with the Assessor’s office. After that, we still have the avenue of the Board of Review for the appeals process. The monster in all of this is the State Equalization Factor. You can get your assessments reduced, but still pay significantly more taxes because of an increase in the State multiplier.

So if your proposed assessment is 4% less than last year, it doesn’t mean your taxes are going down. My suggestion is to appeal anyway because the State multiplier is used against the final assessment. If you look at your assessments over the past three or four years, I promise you that any reduction in assessment is incremental compared to the drop in value you experienced. If you experienced a 50% drop in value (not surprising in a flood plain), the assessments, at the highest moment, may have dropped 10%. Then the State multiplier puts you in the position of actually paying more taxes. The State multiplier is a stealth device, plain and simply. Supposedly, the Illinois Department of Revenue has public hearings before setting these amounts, but I challenge you to get any information from the Department about when and where these public hearings are held. Your Cook County Assessor is supposed to assess around 16%, and the State multiplier is supposed to bring the assessment up to 32%. But the State multiplier is close to three, not two. That is brutal and unconscionable, but also true.

What we need to know is how many of you want to diligently appeal your property tax assessments. If you are interested in appealing your assessment, please email Mike at mike@bestclients.com. I must tell you that it takes a lot of work from a lot of people to help you. In this case, we are probably talking about two appeals…one to the Assessor’s office, and one with the Board of Appeals. Remember, if you want to do your own appeal, the deadline is September 20th for the Assessor’s office. If you want help from the Action Group, we have to organize quickly. By the way, I have no idea why this issue never comes up in any political discussion or debate. I would think the Republicans would have a field day with this issue. Please note that on your property bill are eighteen taxing bodies, including the Mosquito Abatement District, Cook County Forest Preserve, City of Des Plaines, etc. etc. Can you imagine the political pressure on the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Governor to increase the multiplier? That way, they get their tax increases without being accountable for it. That is truly stealth politics, and both parties are to blame for it.

Please contact us as soon as possible. In addition to contacting me at the email above, you can also contact any of our Board members. Overall, we’d like to get assessment reductions for anyone living in a flood plain, but that is for the future.

We should comment that there is a tax increase this year to fund expediting the stormwater management plan. That was done up front, and it shows much courage on the part of our mayor and aldermen. Increasing taxes is not popular, especially in this environment, and they know that. But they also believed that expediting the Stormwater Management Plan is critical, and they chose doing what they think is best………knowing that the criticism won’t abate, and they will hear about increasing taxes at election time. That takes courage.

More later….we are working on an update on levee 37 and Heritage Park! Funding the National Flood Insurance Program comes up in September, and that has been a political mess. By the way, our next membership meeting is October 5th in City Council chambers at 7:00 P.M. Please save the date!!!!