A Word From Assessor Diann Helnore
Real estate taxes are a complex, confusing and frustrating fact of life. We all want the quality of life in our community to be strong and stable; and we don’t mind paying our fair share to support those services that enhance and protect our children, our homes, and our lifestyles. One hundred percent of the tax dollars collected through the property tax stays in our local community and pays for those services. Illinois state legislature has determined that the property tax burden be spread evenly over all the taxpayers based solely on the market value of the property that they own within the jurisdiction which in our case is Belvidere Township. The primary responsibility of the Assessor’s Office is to discover, list and value all property as accurately, fairly and equitably as possible.
Please consider the Belvidere Township Assessor Office as your property tax advocate. We will provide public service and information related to residential, industrial and commercial property assessments. My office will assist all Belvidere Township property owners in dealing with the complex concepts and rules of property valuation.
What can you do to control your property tax bill? Taxes come from levies established by the taxing entities. Divide the total levies by the total equalized assessed valuation to determine the tax rate. The assessed value for a specific parcel determines the proportionate share of the levies to be paid on that specific parcel. The formulas would look something like this:
To determine a particular tax bill:
EAV (Equalized Assessed Valuation) / 100 X TR (Tax Rate) = Tax Bill
Monitor your Taxing Districts. Attend board meetings of the largest taxing bodies, usually schools, to gain an understanding of the economics of the levies. Analyze voter referendum requests for an increase in the tax rate. All taxing body board meetings are open to the public. Do not accept opinions or conclusions without seeing and understanding the underlying data.
Check out your assessed value (used to calculate your EAV). Take a look at your assessment notices; in particular the assessed value. Look at other homes in your neighborhood that are similar to yours and compare their assessed value to the assessed value of your home. If your assessed value is significantly higher without apparent reason, do not hesitate to question your assessed value. Remember that in regard to residential assessments, location and size (square footage) are the most significant characteristics. For industrial and commercial assessments it is building type, i.e. a warehouse vs. a retail building, in addition to location and building size. Call my office to find out more about how to test uniformity of your assessed value when compared to other like properties in your neighborhood.
Make sure that you receive all of the exemptions that you qualify for. When you receive your tax bill for the current tax year, check to make sure all applicable exemptions have been applied. Home owner, senior citizen exemptions and the senior assessment freeze, as well as appeals, are taken care of at the County Assessment office on Logan Avenue. For all other questions regarding valuations of property within Belvidere Township, we should be your first stop. At the Belvidere Township Assessor’s office we have assisted numerous property owners with unique problems. Just call us and you will receive our help.
By law, all property must be revalued every four years. 2011 is our Reassessment Quadrennial Year. Our goals are to determine an accurate market value estimate of property and to assure that similar properties have similar assessments. The Township Assessor must comply with all Illinois State Statutes to uniformly assess properties at a median level of 33 1/3 of market value. Our Ultimate Goal at the Belvidere Township Assessor’s office is to keep all assessments as fair and equitable as possible to ensure the property tax burden among all property owners is as equitable as possible.
