NW Illinois News

The Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) has announced a final property assessment equalization factor of 1.0000 for Carroll County. This was confirmed by David Harris, the director of IDOR. Often referred to as the "multiplier," the factor is designed to ensure uniform property assessments statewide. This uniformity is crucial because many of the state's local taxing districts, such as school districts or fire protection districts, span multiple counties. Uneven assessments could lead to unfair tax burdens among taxpayers with similar properties.

According to legislation passed in 1975, properties in Illinois are assessed at one-third of their market value. However, farm property is assessed differently. Farm homesites and dwellings are subject to standard assessing and equalization, while farmland is assessed at a third of its agriculture economic value and is exempted from the state equalization factor. Carroll County's property assessments stand at 32.93% of the market value, based on sales data from 2021 to 2023.

The current equalization factor applies to 2024 taxes due in 2025. It matches last year's factor of 1.0000. This factor was finalized following a public hearing on the tentative factor issued earlier in January 2025. The process for determining the factor involves annual comparisons between the sale prices of properties over the last three years and the assessed values set by the county assessor. The objective is to adjust the factor so that the average level of assessment aligns with a third of the market value.

While the equalization factor influences property assessments, it does not directly affect total property tax bills. These are set by local taxing bodies based on their annual funding requirements. If these bodies do not ask for more funds than they received the previous year, total property taxes will not increase even if assessments do.

The assessed value of a property dictates the owner's share of the tax burden, which remains unchanged by the multiplier.