Understanding Your Property Assessment
Our Goal • To provide you the property owner of Wheatland Township a fair and equitable assessment so you only pay your fair share.
Understanding Your Assessment There are a couple of parts of the property tax system you need to understand first. • Taxation • Valuation • What causes property values to change
Taxation Government authorities such as park districts, school districts, township government and county government set tax rates and levy taxes. When taxpayers demand services and the taxing authorities provide those services, they require money to do so. THE ASSESSOR’S OFFICE DOES NOT TAX YOU! If rising taxes are of concern, you need to voice your concerns with the appropriate taxing bodies or: Attend budget hearings Decide whether you are willing to do w/o services to keep taxes down Get involved, volunteer for committees that control your tax dollars
Valuation • Buyers and sellers in the market are what create value. • The assessor studies the market by collecting information on properties in your neighborhood to estimate a value on properties and improvement on these properties. A 3 year adjusted average is used as mandated by the State Statutes. • The assessor takes into account the condition, location, amenities, square footage and recent sales (3 yrs. adjusted sales) to come up with your assessed value. We use mass appraisal, we do not have a staff of appraisers to appraise each and every home. • THE ASSESSOR’S OFFICE HAS NO CONTROL OVER TAX RATES. Tax rates are nothing more than the operating budget for taxing bodies (i.e., schools, park districts, police, fire, etc.).
What Causes Values to Change? Property values change for many reasons The most obvious is when you add square footage, amenities, swimming pool or a part of your property is destroyed due to a flood or fire. The most frequent cause of change in your value is a what we are experiencing now, a change in the market. In a recession, homes may stay on the market longer, but values may hold or even rise in some cases, but more affordable homes are in higher demand, so their prices may usually rise. Also, a more desirable neighborhood may send prices to ridiculous levels. In a stable neighborhood, with no extraordinary pressure from the market, inflation may increase property values. If assessed values rise, do the taxes have to rise? NO If assessed values fall, do taxes have to fall? NO
Taxes Based On The Assessed Value • Taxing bodies decide how much money the property tax has to raise each year. For an example and ease we’ll use $1 Million • The assessor estimates the total assessed value of all taxable property to fairly distribute this tax burden via your assessment. • Then a tax rate is calculated by dividng the amount of tax to be raised by the total assessed value of the Township: $1 Million = 1 percent $100 Million • If your home’s assessed value is $100,000, your tax bill will be: .01 x $100,000 = $1,000
• If your total assed value doubles to $200 Million, and the amount to be raised stays the same, the tax rate will be: $1 Million = ½ Percent $200 Million Your taxes would have stayed the same ( .005 x $200,000 = $1,000) • If the assessed value increases and the tax rate remained the same, your taxes would rise. The taxing authorities are demanding more money, even though they have not changed the rate: .01 x $200,000 = $2,000 • We are continually hearing that the market is falling, so in this case, just because your assessed value decreases, does not mean your taxes will. If we dropped the Township value to $50 Million and the amount to be raised stays the same, the tax rate would go up, the rate will be: $1 Million = 2 percent $50 Million Your taxes would have stayed the same ( .02 x $50,000 = $1,000)
We hear and understand your concerns about taxes being high. The Assessor’s office is not the enemy, we are honestly here to help in any way we can, but we must follow state statutes and are more than willing to correct your assessment if it’s within these guidelines. In order to fairly and equitably assess your property, we must have the correct information. We urge each property owner to look at their property record cards from time to time to ensure that the information we have on file is correct, you can also do this online at www.wheatlandtownship.com. You as a property owner have a responsibility to provide the assessor’s office corrected information if it is wrong. Please do not wait until appeal time to do this. In the past the information gathered was not extremely detailed. We have a new system and are working to update and re-gather this information, but this takes time. In the end the assessments will be tighter and even more equitable than they are now.
Appeals & Your Rights The Assessor’s office would rather not have an appeal as much as the property owner does. If there is an error, we are more than happy to fix this error before an appeal is ever needed, but we must follow state statute and sometimes are unable to make the changes that are requested. This past year was especially brutal due to the market. Everyone hears how bad the market is, but fails to understand that we must use a 3 year average. The 3 years prior to the levy year. We also must exclude all bank sales, short sales, foreclosures and the like. All we ask is that you call the office and give my staff 4 comparables during the allotted 30 days (usually beginning August 18 th or so) . I will then look at these individually and if an adjustment can be made at that time, I will do so. If I feel I cannot, my staff would call you back and at that time you would have the opportunity to formally appeal. I will always be fair.
Three common grounds for filing an appeal: $ Lack of uniformity: - You believe the assessed value is out of line in comparison to similar homes $ Overvaluation: - Remember we use a 3 year adjusted sales average to determine fair market value $ Property description Error: - As an example: your square footage is incorrect Side Notes : Unfortunately you will not win an appeal if you base it on the fact that your taxes are too high or you cannot afford the taxes. There is a 30 day window from the time the assessments are published that you are able to file an appeal with the Board of Review. Once again, the time for appeals begins usually around August 18 th and ends somewhere around September 20th. There is no variance from this 30 allowance. Questions? – Please call the Assessor’s office
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