NW Illinois News

Ogle County has received a tentative property assessment equalization factor of 1.0000 for 2025, according to David Harris, director of the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR). The equalization factor, also known as the "multiplier," is used to standardize property assessments across counties in Illinois, a requirement under state law. This process helps ensure that taxpayers with similar properties are treated fairly, especially in cases where taxing districts cross county lines.

State law mandates that most property in Illinois be assessed at one-third of its market value. However, farm properties are evaluated differently: homesites and dwellings follow regular assessment procedures, while farmland and farm buildings use productivity-based standards.

The annual determination of the equalization factor involves comparing sales prices from the past three years to assessed values assigned by local officials. When the average assessment matches one-third of market value, the multiplier is set at 1.0000. If assessments exceed this ratio, the multiplier drops below 1.0000; if they fall short, it rises above that figure.

According to IDOR's analysis of property sales from 2022 through 2024, Ogle County's assessments stand at 33.27% of market value. Last year’s multiplier for Ogle County was slightly higher at 1.0271.

David Harris stated: "The property assessment equalization factor, often called the 'multiplier,' is the method used to achieve uniform property assessments among counties, as required by law. This equalization is particularly important because some of the state's 6,600 local taxing districts overlap into two or more counties (e.g., school districts, junior college districts, fire protection districts). If there was no equalization among counties, substantial inequities among taxpayers with comparable properties would result."

The new tentative multiplier will apply to taxes payable in 2026 and may still change if significant adjustments are made by the County Board of Review or if further data suggests an update is needed. A public hearing on this proposal will occur within a month after its publication in a local newspaper.

Changes in the multiplier do not directly affect total property tax bills; those amounts depend on how much funding local taxing bodies request each year for services provided to residents. Even if individual assessments rise due to changes in market value or multipliers, overall tax bills only increase if local governments seek more revenue than they did previously.

An individual property's assessed value determines its share of the total tax burden but does not alter that taxpayer’s proportion due solely to changes in the countywide multiplier.