August 22, 2020
Dear editor;
This letter serves as a heads-up to all property taxpayers in Aurora (Township).
I learned with some difficulty, this year is different because the assessments were not all published. Only the re-valued parcels were published in the August 10 Beacon News. To make it even more difficult to compare one’s numbers with neighbors, the Letter of Revised Assessment arrived several days after the newspaper date. Because public libraries now do not have newspapers out for viewing, I was at a loss to get the information. Here is what to do:
Google search and bring up the Aurora Township Assessor web site; public libraries are open by appointment for one hour on a computer. You will need your list of neighboring parcel numbers. I now print the single pages of about a dozen properties and not just in my neighborhood. Only two years appear on the website. I used from 2016 to get a pattern and gather a basis for complaint last year. At the time I believed that discrepancy in physical data would be a winning argument. I learned the hard way that ultimately the assessment is made uniformly and efficiently by using only the home square footage and sales history. Every year, parcels increase for everyone not re-valued, by the same percentage. This year yours should be 7.9% higher than last year. If nothing has changed on your parcel, you may wish to fill out the “Residential/Farm Assessment Complaint for 2020.”
It is on the Kane County assessments website, two pages. They must be postmarked by September 9 in order to be valid. I will urge caution that one may win, but the County can cancel it the following year by giving a proportionate over-increase. There is a risk. The rigmarole can be beneficial, though, by showing one how the complex taxation system must operate.
I asked my legislative representative to look into the problem of the County not publishing all the parcels (it looked to be only 1/3), having letters arrive after the newspaper sale date, and every year being a different day and even month in some years. If it is the uniform determination the government claims it is, then it ought to be simple and transparent for every taxpayer.
If many will take the trouble to send an E-mail (Barbara Hernandez is working from home and requests E-mail to RepBarbaraHernandez@gmail.com). I suggest in the subject tine, “Property Tax Assessment 2020.” One voice may not matter, but hundreds of voices, yes!
Please and thank you.
Sincerely,
Mary Goetsch, Aurora