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July 6, 2015
 The 2015 assessment year is the first year of a
four-year cycle that runs from 2015 through 2018. The courts have ruled that a
general assessment year should be treated differently from the non-general assessment
years. The assessor’s responsibility in the general assessment year is to
examine the value of every property in their jurisdiction and provide an
assessed value for the 2015-2018 general assessment cycle (35 ILCS 200/9-155).
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2015
assessment notices will begin to be mailed next week, and will continue through
August. The assessment notice contains important information like:
- A summary of the current year’s valuation changes
-
Property characteristics
-
Homestead
exemptions that were received on the previous tax bill
-
Township
Assessor contact information
-
Assessment
publication newspaper and publication date
- Assessment
appeal filing deadline
- Tax assessment help center dates
- Key-code to access the Online Appeal Filing system
Taxpayer advocates are available at our office (18 N. County St. - 7th Floor, Waukegan) during regular business hours (Mon-Fri 8:30 a.m. –
5:00 p.m.). We also host multiple Tax Assessment Help Centers at convenient
locations, and hours (typically 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.). Through these two
options, residents are given the opportunity to work one on one with a member
of the CCAO for personal assistance with evaluating their property tax
assessment.
Help Center Dates and Locations:
College of Lake County Southlake Educational Center
1120 S. Milwaukee Ave, Vernon Hills
August - 11th, 18th, 25th
September - 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd
University Center of Lake County
1200 University Center Dr, Grayslake
August - 12th, 15th, 19th, 22nd, 26th, 27th
September - 2nd, 9th, 12th, 16th, 24th
Times:
Weekdays - 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Saturday - 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Almost half of all assessment appeals that were filed with the Board of Review in 2014 were filed using our Online Appeal Filing System! This is a quick and convenient way for you to get your appeal information to the Board of Review Office. It eliminates the hassle of mailing paper copies or hand delivering them to our office in Waukegan. To access the system you must have the property key-code which can be found in the upper right hand corner of the assessment notice, or can be obtained by calling or emailing our office.
Assessment Publications and Appeal Filing Deadlines
If I have recently purchased my home and my assessment valuation reflects a market value higher than my purchase price, what can I do?
Generally, this is the most straightforward type of assessment related circumstance. We would suggest that you take information on your purchase and discuss your assessment valuation with your township assessor's office. Assessors can recommend a change in your assessment valuation to the Board of Review and if approved, the valuation is adjusted without the need of a assessment appeal hearing.
If you find that your township assessor's office is unable to make a recommendation to the Board of Review, you may need to file an assessment appeal. In the instance where you would have to file an appeal, you will want to provide a copy of the HUD-1 closing document, the PTAX-203 Illinois Transfer Declaration, or any other proof that the sale was advertised and was an arms-length transaction. These documents are usually provided at the closing. There is no need to have representation at the Board of Review in this type of circumstance. Often, the Board of Review resolves these types of assessment appeals without a formal hearing.
In an effort to stay more connected we
are now on Facebook and Twitter! Like or follow us to get important updates
regarding exemption information, assessment publications dates, assessment
appeal final filing deadlines and so much more!
We want to hear from you! If you
have a question that you would like answered please email it to our inbox at assessor@lakecountyil.gov and we
will post an answer on our Facebook and Twitter page. Please do not send
questions regarding a specific property (you may direct those to our office
staff). We will choose questions that are the most relevant and will be helpful
for others to have answered.
Effective June 1, 2014 the Chief County
Assessment Office has new authority to recapture taxable value in instances
where property owners have received homestead benefits erroneously. This new
law will be beneficial to taxpayers because it will ensure that properties that
are not entitled to these exemption benefits will no longer receive the
additional tax break, therefore creating a more fairly distributed property tax
burden. To check your property exemption status you can check the assessment
notice or tax bill.
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We are excited to announce that the Mapping Division is now part
of the Chief County Assessment Office! Just some of the
Mapping division's responsibilities include:
- Ensuring
accurate, complete and timely entry of a significant portion of the
county’s tax system.
- Subdividing
and consolidating tax parcels pursuant to deeds, subdivision plats and
other legal documents, and by request for tax assessment and billing
purposes.
- Working with
surveyors, lawyers and other document originators to correct errors in
legal documents.
- Initial
assignment of Permanent Index Numbers (PIN) to tax parcels.
- Assigning
addresses in unincorporated Lake County and by those municipalities that
request this service.
- Maintaining
and publishing tax parcel maps and tax district maps.
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