General Information
The State of Illinois has established the Assessed Value to be at 33.33% or one-third of the Market Value. As an example; if your property had a Market Value/Fair Cash Value of $90,000 the Assessed Value would $30,000. The total Assessed Value of all properties creates the Tax Base.
The Assessor does not compute the Real Estate Taxes, does not send out Tax Bills, and does not collect Property Taxes, see Tax Cycle
It is the job of the Assessor’s Office to value all properties at Market Value or the Fair Cash Value. This can be done by using one or more of the three approaches to valuation:
1) Cost Approach
2) Market Approach and
3) Income Approach.
:The Market Approach to value is the most indicative of what is going on directly in Freeport Township. This is done in a fair and equitable manner to ensure the tax burden is fairly distributed among property owners. It is the goal of this office to produce accurate and equitable assessments throughout Freeport Township.
At the closing of assessment books for any given year the changes in assessments are then sent to the Chief County Assessment Office (CCAO). The CCAO may apply a Township Equalization Factor to the Assessor’s Values. The CCAO will annually publish and send change notices when a change in assessment is made at the Freeport Township level. Please note, if your change in assessment is due to an equalization factor applied by the CCAO you may NOT receive a change notice. However, the equalization factor will be published in a local paper.
The property owner has an opportunity to dispute their assessment. It is always best to contact the Assessor’s Office first. If following that meeting the property owner is not satisfied they can appeal their assessment by taking their complaint to the Board of Review. If the property owner is not satisfied with the decision made by the Board of Review they may file with Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board.
What type of properties are assessed?
Assessors only assess real property, commonly known as real estate. In 1979 the State of Illinois did away with Personal Property. Real property is defined as land and any improvements to the site. This may include structures of any kind. Attributes that can impact an assessment are: location, lot size, structure size and style, basements (finished/unfinished), decks, patios, porches, number of bathrooms, fireplaces, age of structure, quality of construction and the condition. Structure square footages are based on exterior measurements.
Interior inspections are done by request, either by the assessor’s office or the property owner. At times this is necessary to validate the current assessment. If after inspecting a property the assessor’s office adjusts the value due to condition, this value will be held for one year and the assessor will request a follow up inspection to see if the issues that lowered the assessment have been remedied. These properties are monitored annually until the property is brought back to average condition.
