2023 was our General Reassessment Year (also known as the Quadrennial), which occurs every four years as mandated by State law. For the 2023 General Reassessment Year,, all properties were reviewed and reassessed for market value and uniformity. Our previous General Reassessment Year was 2019.
As the Assessor, I'm responsible along with my staff for assessing property at one-third of the fair market value. Properties are valued as of January 1st of each year based upon the three prior years' sales. However, the county and the state monitor assessor values so that values are equitably assessed. The formulas that are used to measure our accuracy and equity always include consideration of actual sales over a three-year period as required by State law.
For example, when our office valued properties as of January 1st, 2023 for the 2023 General Reassessment Year (which is the assessment that your tax bill payable in 2024 will be based upon), we were obligated by law to look back at the sales that took place during 2020, 2021 and 2022. We are not permitted to just look at the marketplace that existed on January 1st, 2023.
At the bottom of this page is a chart that illustrates Residential sales activity in Bloomingdale Township from 2019 through 2023, using salesranges beginning with the lowest single-family Residential property sale and ending with the highest single-family Residential property sale. Back in 2008, we experienced the first real decline in the sales range of homes in decades, a trend that continued through 2013. We next saw sales prices trending back
upward in 2014-2019, followed by the current booming market of 2020-2023.
Looking back, much of the 2008-2013 drop in value took the form of compulsory sales, property transfers that typically take place in distressed circumstances. In the past, State statute prohibited Assessors from considering these sales for property assessment purposes, but a historic change in State law removed that prohibition. Thanks to Public Act 096-1083, the State of Illinois changed the criteria for usable sales in the assessment process. Our office can now consider certain compulsory sales as part of the assessment process, and taxpayers may also submit compulsory sales in their assessment appeals as long as they meet the State's new criteria. This includes using "compulsory sales" which are bank-owned sales, sales resulting from foreclosure proceedings, and "short" sales. Note, however, that under the new State law there are a number of categories of sales that are still excluded, such as related sales, sales of partial interest, Quit-Claim deeds, Sheriff's deeds, transfers of properties not advertised for sale, et al.
We believe that the above is a positive change that benefits the taxpayer, allowing us to develop assessments that more accurately reflect the market.
Most importantly, regardless of what happens in the marketplace, everyone should keep one fact in mind: whether assessments are reduced OR increased, this does not automatically mean that property taxes will go down OR up. Please remember that your property taxes are generated by your area's local tax
levies which pay for your local services, such as schools, parks, fire protection, and others.
We have closed our books on the 2023 General Reassessment Year. DuPage County's publication of all of our 2023 assessment changes in the Addison Suburban Life and Carol Stream Suburban Life newspapers (and the mailing of notices of reassessment) occurred on December 1, 2023. This date also commenced the 30-day 2023 assessment appeal filling period.The deadline to file an appeal of your 2023 Assessment with the DuPage County Board of Review was January 2, 2024.(Keep in mind you are appealing the assessed value of your property, not the taxes).
NOTE: The Senior Assessment Freeze Exemption requirements have been changed by the Illinois Legislature: the new maximum household income allowed is $65,000. For more details, click this link: Senior Assessment Freeze Exemption
Further, both the Residential Homestead Exemption amount and the Senior Homestead Exemption amount will both increase to
$8,000 each, effective with the 2023 Assessment Year (which is payable on the tax bill you will receive in 2024).
