By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The number of home and business owners challenging what assessor’s say their property is worth has nearly doubled in the past year.
There were 1,252 property assessment complaints filed this year in Winnebago County, up from 665 a year ago, according to the Supervisor of Assessment’s Office. That number doesn’t include complaints that were already withdrawn or those where additional information is needed to comply.
The spike in challenges comes after the taxable value of all property across Winnebago County increased by 11%. The taxable, or assessed value, represents one-third of fair market price. For many homeowners in Rockford, assessments rose by about 12%.
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There was another reason for the increase, too. This year is what’s referred to as a quadrennial assessment, or general assessment, when assessors review each property once every four years, setting up the potential for more changes. There were roughly 120,000 letters sent to property owners to notify them of their assessment.
Past general assessment years also led to more challenges. For example, challenges increased 76% after the last quadrennial assessment in 2019 and by 15% in 2015.
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Assessment challenges stayed far below their record levels of more than 7,400 in 2011.
Tom Hodges, Winnebago County’s supervisor of assessments, said that general assessment years tend to lead to more challenges. However, when home sale prices are increasing— as they have at record pace in the Rockford region — there are often fewer challenges because it’s difficult to find good sales evidence to challenge your assessment.
“So we had some competing factors,” Hodges said. “But in the end the final tally ended up being pretty close to what we were expecting.”
The latest data from Northwest Illinois Alliance of Realtors shows that the average price for a home sold in Winnebago, Boone and Ogle counties was $205,198 in August. That was the third straight month of record-breaking prices.
Those rising prices led to an equalization factor, sometimes called a multiplier, ranging from 8% to 12%, depending on the township you live in. The multiplier is derived from the past three years of arms-length sales. That drove up assessed values here, and led to record high property values and the highest number of challenges in four years.
“I don’t think the multiplier is a fair reflection of the market overall, especially if people aren’t selling or industrial properties aren’t increasing in value,” said Jim Tuneberg, an attorney with Guyer & Enichen who specializes in assessment challenges for commercial and residential properties
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Tuneberg said about 98% of the sales used to determine the equalization factor are residential, but those skyrocketing home sale prices create a multiplier that is applied to all forms of property.
“We’ve seen an increase in commercial/industrial property protests because of that,” he said. “How would you like to own an industrial plant that’s assessed at $5 million and suddenly you have a $500,000 increase because the homes surrounding your plant?”
A year ago, about 69% of people who challenged their property assessments were successful in getting at least some change.
Most people challenge their assessments in an attempt to lower the property taxes they will pay. But the assessed value is just one portion of the equation that determines the bill you’ll receive from the county treasurer next year. That means that just because your assessed value goes up 12%, doesn’t mean your bill will have a 12% increase in the dollars you pay.
Whether your bill increases will depend largely on what taxing bodies such as the Rockford School District, city of Rockford, Winnebago County and the Rockford Park District do over the next three months with their levy, the total amount of property taxes they decided to collect in 2024. There are 11 taxing bodies that make up the total bill for most Rockford residents.
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If they collect the same amount as a year ago, something Rockford has pledged to do, the tax rate you pay will be lower. The question for each individual homeowner then is whether the rate falls enough to prevent a large increase on the total dollar amount you pay on your bill.
The total dollar value of all complaints issued this year is not yet known. That’s because there is still an Oct. 24 deadline for any challengers requesting a reduction of more than $100,000 to submit additional evidence on their complaint such as an appraisal.
The Winnebago County Board of Review, in general, begins hearing complaints for smaller amounts in November. Larger complaints are heard in January and February.
This article is byKevin Haas. Email him atkhaas@rockrivercurrent.comor follow him on X at@KevinMHaasor Instagram@thekevinhaasand Threads@thekevinhaas
