Manhattan
Residents:
1-8-2022
2022 assessments increase again due to inflation in the real estate
market. The main reason for the inflation in the real estate market
are the low interest rates. It seems buyers look to see if they can
afford a particular payment rather than worrying about if a home is over
valued. This is great if someone is selling their home but the
people that want to live here they get caught with the consequences because
higher sale prices on existing homes is what the Illinois Department of
Revenue uses to calculate assessment changes each year. Assessment
changes each year are developed by the Illinois Department of Revenue
(I.D.O.R.) Real
Estate Sale Ratio Study. This study
projects an annual equalization factor that forces assessments to increase
or decrease according to the median assessment level in the sturdy that is
calculated from each "Market Sale" by dividing the prior year
total assessment by the sale price. Example if a residential
property is assessed at 100,000 but sells for $305,000 the assessment
level for this sale is .3243 (100,000 / 308,350) just slightly below the
State of Illinois mandated median assessment level of .3333 percent of market value,
In this study all of the "Market Sale" sale ratios are ranked
from low to high and the middle position of the ranking is used to
determine the new year Equalization Factor from the I.D.O.R. Sales Ratio
Study. Example assume the assessment level in the example
above is the middle ranking of all the sales being considered in the
ranking then the new Equalization Factor calculates to 1.0277 (.3333
/.3243). Manhattan Township is not unique many other Will County
Townships and others across Illinois will also have to increase
assessments in 2022 again. This is the basic process that takes each year
as far as how assessments are calculated each year. The other part of the Tax Rate
calculation concerns the Levy that is determined by each Taxing Body
listed on an individual tax bill.
In thinking about this
inflation spiral we are in as it relates to the real estate market a
temporary solution may be if the the Illinois State Legislature could
temporarily cut the state's mandated assessment level say by fifty percent
to compensate for the inflation caused by the low interest rates in the
real estate market. This may not be as easy as stated here for other
political reasons.
It
is the township assessor's duty to adjust assessments each year to help minimize
annual equalization factor each year in
preparation for the following year but the assessor has no control over
real estate sale prices. Raising assessments in an appreciating
real estate market is the only realistic
way to minimize the annual I.D.O.R. factors. The other part of the
real estate tax system that get less attention is over levying by the
taxing bodies listed on your tax bill. If the taxing bodies were
not spending money a tax bill would be zero. Obviously the taxing
bodies do need money to provide services to the community. It is up
to the each taxing body elected officials to determine how much their levy
(the money from the real estate tax system) should increase each
year. The October and November public meetings is generally when the
Levy is being decided each year.
August 2022 the assessment change notices will be sent by Will
County. This starts a
thirty-day period to file an assessment appeal.
The appeal deadline for the 2022 assessments will be within the first two
weeks of September 12, 202.
If you believe your property is over assessed I encourage you to speak to
me about it. If we cannot agree the appeal process is
available to you. The appeal forms are available on the Will County
Web type www.willcounty.soa click on Will County Board of Review
scroll down to the appropriate
form example Residential Appeal Form and Residential Appeal Form
Instructions.
The Will County Board of Review may lower an assessment if the evidence
presented is more persuasive than the evidence submitted by the assessor because
at this point in the tax cycle the limitation of the equalization factor discussed above does not apply.
At this time the assessor and the Will County Board of Review are only
dealing with an individual property rather than doing mass appraisal.
I can only provide assessment relief when the facts according to real
estate assessment practices indicate an additional adjustment is needed.
The Manhattan Township Assessor’s Web Site is available so all can have
an anonymous transparent view of all assessments.
Even if a person does not understand every detail of the assessment
process they can review the results and call me when they have questions.
Anyone can appeal the assessment on their property before the Will County
Board of Review. It is just part of
the assessment process that gives everyone the right to seek another opinion based
on a set of facts they present.
Sincerely
Joseph R. Oldani
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