Southern Illinois News

Alexander County has received a tentative property assessment equalization factor of 0.9838, as announced by David Harris, the director of the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR).

This property assessment equalization factor, commonly referred to as the "multiplier," is designed to standardize property assessments across counties, adhering to state law requirements. The implementation of this factor is crucial because numerous local taxing districts in the state intersect multiple counties. Without equalization, taxpayers with similar properties across different counties could face significant disparities.

According to state regulations, Illinois property assessments must represent one-third of market value. Exceptions are made for farm properties, where homesites and dwellings are assessed under standard procedures while farmland and farm buildings are assessed based on productivity-related standards.

The calculation of the equalization factor for each county relies on a comparison between property sales prices over the last three years and the respective assessed values determined by the county supervisor of assessments or county assessor. When the three-year average assessment matches one-third of market value, the equalization factor is one (1.0000). If assessments exceed one-third of market value, the factor falls below one; conversely, if assessments are under one-third, the factor rises above one.

Currently, assessments in Alexander County are at 33.88% of market value, based on property sales data from 2021 to 2023. The newly assigned equalization factor will affect taxes for the year 2024, payable in 2025. The county's equalization factor last year was 1.0000.

The tentative factor might change if the County Board of Review adjusts county assessments significantly or if new data presented by local officials or others suggests modifications to IDOR's estimated average levels of assessments. A public hearing on the tentative multiplier is scheduled to occur 20 to 30 days after it’s publicly announced in a local newspaper.

A change in the equalization factor does not imply an automatic adjustment in total property tax bills; these are calculated by local taxing bodies based on annual service-related funding requests. Tax bills for individual properties are dictated by the assessed value rather than the multiplier.