100 years ago
on April 7, 1914 Moses Lucus was elected Township Assessor for a two year term.
History
The Illinois Constitution of 1848 gave voters the opportunity to adopt township government. By 1880 Boone county had 8 townships: Belvidere, Benton (now Flora), Boone, Bonus, Caledonia, LeRoy, Manchester, and Ohio (now Spring). Poplar Grove Township was established later being part of Caledonia and Boone Townships.
Who
Assessors over the past 50 years from 1961 – 2014 and the township valuation at the start of their “1st term in office”.
Wm. J. Spencer – elected April 1961 and 1965…..1960 valuation $44,270,550
Keith Larson – appointed November 1965, took office December 1965 and starting January 1, 1966 fulfilled term of after the death of WM. J. Spencer.
Katherine ‘Kitty’ Quick – elected April 1969, 1973, 1977, and 1981…..valuation $71, 662,845
John Wendell – elected April 1985 and 1989….1984 valuation $100,280,573
H. Robert “Bob” Falkenstein – elected April 1993, 1997, 2001, and 2005….1992 valuation $195,702,165
Diann Helnore – elected April 2009….2008 valuation $675,946,160. Highest year for valuation due to 3 year average of sales
Tami Torrance – elected April 2013…..2012 valuation $504,054,417
What
Prior responsibilities of the Belvidere Township Assessor’s Office.
- Issued dog tags to Belvidere Township residents. Dog tags are now issued by a licensed veterinarian.
- Personal Property – Assessors were required by state statute to go to every household every year to gather information such as number of vehicles, furniture, appliances, etc. that they owned.
- Farm Reports – Went to each farm to talk to the farmers every year regarding the following information; Number of cattle, hogs, livestock, how may bushels of corn, oats and bales of hay they had and how much their machinery was worth. Farm and Personal Property reports ended in 1977.
Where
Locations of the Belvidere Township Assessor’s Office through the years.
The assessor’s office was always located in the assessor’s home until January of 1967 when Belvidere Township leased the Strom building at 316 S. State St. For the next twenty three years the township offices were located at 316 S. State St until June 14, 1990 when lightening hit the building next door which started a fire. The township experienced smoke and water damage. The assessor’s office was temporarily located at 251 W. Locust St. with the Supervisor’s office until August 1990 when it moved to the current location at 8200 Fairgrounds Rd. The new township building was built in 2005 and the assessor’s office moved into it in May of that year.
