Heather Kroencke: If you own either residential or commercial property in McHenry County, it’s likely that you have been shocked when you’ve opened your tax bill for that property especially in the last years as it seems that property taxes across Illinois are going up significantly.
Appealing Property Tax Assessment
What we tell property owners is while we can’t appeal the tax bill it’s very important that we take a look at the assessment when it comes out in the late summer /early fall. The first step that happens in part of an appeal is that we would do an analysis for free to see if it’s worth appealing.
We would take a look at the individual property’s assessment, compared to comparable sales, comparable assessments. If there is an appraisal, decide if we need to get an appraisal and then determine if it’s worthwhile to file an appeal.
At that point in the process if necessary we would file the appeal with the county. We would take care of all the paperwork and submit the evidence. Then we would attend the hearing on behalf of the property owner.
It’s important to get that assessment as low as possible because it is the basis for your tax bill. When you get your tax bill in the spring and you see the two installments on it that will be coming due, it’s already too late to appeal that.
In Illinois, everything with taxes is paid in arrears meaning you are paying for the prior year’s assessment. That’s why it’s so important that as soon as you get that assessment you notify an attorney if you want to appeal it because you only have 30 days once you receive that.