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BOARD OF REVIEW ACCEPTING APPEALS FOR
OAK PARK PROPERTIES THROUGH OCTOBER 29
Contact person: Ali ElSaffar

The Cook County Board of Review has announced that it will be accepting appeals of the assessed valuations of Oak Park properties between September 24 and October 29, 2007. According to Oak Park Township Assessor Ali ElSaffar, this appeal period will be the only time in 2007 when the Board of Review will accept appeals from Oak Park.

“All Oak Park properties were reassessed in 2005, and most of the values set in 2005 will remain unchanged until Oak Park’s next reassessment in 2008,” ElSaffar said. “As a result, the vast majority of property owners who filed successful appeals in 2005 or 2006 will not need to file a 2007 appeal, as
the property’s assessed value will not increase in 2007. Nonetheless, since property values can change from year to year, assessed values can be appealed in any year, including 2007.”

There are some circumstances where taxpayers may want to file 2007 appeals. One such circumstance arises when there is a new assessment for the property in 2007 because of changes to the property, such as the construction of a new building or a condominium conversion. In addition, the appeal period allows taxpayers to demonstrate that changes to the property, such as a fire or other problem, have negatively influenced the value of their properties in the last year. Finally, taxpayers who missed the deadline for appealing their 2005 or 2006 assessed values can contest their values for the 2007 tax year.

In most cases, those who are filing 2007 appeals because they missed the deadlines from prior years will not be able to do anything about their assessments from prior years. Indeed, since Cook County tax bills always arrive one year late, property owners should be aware that the money-saving effects of successful 2007 appeals will not appear on tax bills until the fall of calendar year 2008.

Individuals seeking assistance in filing tax appeals should call the Township Assessor’s office at (708) 383-8005 to set up appointments during the appeal period. To obtain additional information about filing tax appeals, representatives from the office of Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rodgers will be in Oak Park to meet with residents interested in appealing their assessed valuations. The meeting will be held at the council chambers of Village Hall at 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday, October 24. The meeting is co-sponsored by the Township Assessor’s office and the office of State Senator Don Harmon.

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DUE DATE FOR PROPERTY TAX BILLS LIKELY TO BE
LATEST ON RECORD BECAUSE OF CONTINUED DISAGREEMENTS IN SPRINGFIELD

Contact Person: Ali ElSaffar, Oak Park Township Assessor

The possibility that Cook County property tax bills would be issued by October 1 and would be due November 1 was eliminated last week when Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich issued an amendatory veto of a bill dealing with various property tax exemptions for homeowners. Until the legislature and the governor resolve this issue, it will not be possible to determine property tax rates or mail property tax bills.

The due date for second installment tax bills typically varies from year to year because of the complexities of our property tax system. The latest due date on record for second installment tax bills was November 15, 2004, according to the Oak Park Township Assessor’s office. Oak Park Township Assessor Ali ElSaffar now estimates that the earliest possible due date for second installment tax bills this year will be November 15, and there is a good chance that the due date will be even later.

Dispute Involves Extension of 7% Assessment Cap

The controversy that is delaying the mailing of tax bills centers on the law known as the ‘7% assessment cap,’ which was approved by the legislature in 2004. The purpose of the 7% cap was to limit large tax increases for homeowners after reassessment. The law accomplished this by making assessment increases above 7% per year tax-exempt through an expanded homeowner exemption.

But because the tax breaks for homeowners had the potential to increase property tax bills for businesses and some other homeowners, the 7% cap was adopted on an experimental basis, expiring after three years. The cap expired at the end of last year in Chicago and if it is not extended, taxes for Chicago homeowners will increase significantly. The 7% cap will not expire in Oak Park or any other suburb this year.

Since 2006, the legislature has been trying to reach agreement on how to extend the 7% assessment cap. In August, the legislature agreed on a bill that addressed the 7% cap while making many other changes to the law on property tax exemptions. The Governor’s amendatory veto effectively rejects the bill sent to him, but informs the legislature of the changes that would make it acceptable to him. The legislature can respond by: a) overriding the governor’s veto; b) adopting the governor’s suggested changes; c) passing a different bill; or d) allowing the 7% assessment cap to expire.

The legislature is scheduled to reconvene on October 2. If decisive action is taken at that time, county authorities might be able to calculate tax rates, print tax bills and then mail them by October 15, allowing for a November 15 due date. But if decisive action is delayed, the due date for tax bills will also be delayed. The delay, which is already causing some difficulty for schools districts and other taxing entities that rely on property taxes, will create more problems the longer the delay goes on.

Details of Dispute Involve Maximum Exemption Amounts under the 7% Cap

Because of concerns that the 7% legislation proposed in 2004 could result in very large homeowner exemptions for high-value homes, the proposal was amended to limit the expanded homeowner exemption to a maximum of $20,000 in equalized assessed valuation. Because of this limitation, assessment increases were greater than 7% per year for some homes with relatively high assessed values. Last year, for example, many Oak Park homeowners had assessment increases in excess of 7% because of the $20,000 maximum homeowner exemption.

In 2006, the Illinois Senate sought to extend the 7% assessment cap with a new maximum exemption of $60,000, whereas the Illinois House sought an extension that retained the original $20,000 exemption. In May, 2007, the House passed a compromise bill. The bill included a maximum homeowner exemption of $33,000 to $40,000 in the first year of the three-year reassessment cycle, with declining maximum exemption amounts in the second and third years of the reassessment cycle. At the beginning of the next reassessment cycle, the fourth year after the bill would take effect, the homeowner exemption would fall to $6,000 and remain at that level.

But the compromise bill increased the maximum homeowner exemption for some homeowners. Long-term homeowners with household incomes of $75,000 or less would not have to worry about the declining maximum exemption amounts, as the limits on exemption amounts were completely eliminated for this group. The bill also created a number of new property tax exemptions for veterans and the disabled, while expanding existing property tax exemptions for senior citizens. The Senate passed this compromise bill in August.

Governor Blagojevich’s amendatory veto seeks to change the maximum homeowner exemption in the compromise bill. He would set the maximum homeowner exemption at $40,000, and keep it there permanently. He would retain the other new exemptions created under the bill.

Effect of Dispute on Oak Park and Other Suburbs

The controversy regarding the maximum homeowner exemption amounts will not immediately affect homeowners in Oak Park or the other suburbs. This year, changes in the law will only influence the property tax bills of Chicago residents; the effect of whatever changes are finally agreed to will not show up on the property tax bills of residents in the northern suburbs (any suburb north of North Avenue) until next year. Oak Park residents and other south suburban residents will not see the effect of the changes for two years.

Even though the new homeowner exemptions have not yet affected suburban residents, the uncertainty over exemption amounts makes it impossible to determine tax rates for taxing districts which include both the City of Chicago and suburban areas, such as Cook County government and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. As a result, no Cook County resident will receive tax bills, and no Cook County taxing district will receive property tax revenue, until this matter is resolved.