Bureau County issued final property assessment multiplier

David Harris, director of the Illinois Department of Revenue, announced that Bureau County has been issued a final property assessment equalization factor of 1.0000.

The property assessment equalization factor is the method used to achieve uniform property assessments among counties as required by law. The current equalization factor being assigned is for 2021 taxes, which are payable by 2022.

This equalization is deemed particularly important because some of the state’s 6,600 local taxing districts overlap into two or more counties, including school districts, junior college districts, fire protection districts and more.

If there were no equalization among counties, substantial inequities among taxpayers with comparable properties would result.

The equalization factor is determined annually for each county by comparing the price of individual properties sold over the past three years to the assessed value placed on the properties by the county supervisor of assessments/county assessor.

Assessments on Bureau County are at 33.26% of market value based on sales of properties in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

The previous year’s equalization factor for Bureau County was also 1.0000. The final assessment equalization factor was issued in February 2022 after a public hearing on the tentative factor, which was 1.0000.

Under a law passed in 1975, property in Illinois should be assessed at one-third of its market value.

Farm property is assessed differently, with farm homesites and dwellings being subjected to regular assessing and equalization procedures, but farmland is assessed at one-third its agricultural economic value. Farmland is not subject to the state equalization factor.

The assessed value of an individual property determines what portion of the tax burden a specific taxpayer will pay. The individual’s portion of tax responsibility is not changed by the multiplier.