The Grundy County Board issued a request for proposal during its meeting last Wednesday, Oct. 15 for a consultant that would re-evaluate and assess all commercial and industrial properties in the county.

Nancy Norton, the president and CEO of the Grundy Economic Development Council, said she’s winning the “squeaky wheel award” for this one. She’s been pushing the Grundy County Board to get an expert involved for the last 25 years.

“Although we are a small county, we are a complex, sophisticated economy,” Norton said. “We have everything from nuclear plants to natural gas plants, chemical plants, 13 million plus square feet of logistics, some with cold storage, some without, and solar power. Maybe even someday, we’ll have data centers and other things we just don’t know.”

Norton said the county has grown, and there’s a need to increase the expertise and manpower involved in assessments of these commercial industrial properties.

Development Director Alec Macdonald presented the two vendors whose proposals were selected for the county board to decide between.

“By completing and shoring up our tax base with a commercial industrial revaluation, it will give Grundy County and its citizens a fair tax distribution, stronger fiscal predictability, fewer costly appeals, better tools for economic development, and a clearer public transparency,” Macdonald said. “Taken together, those gains protect residents, support local government planning, and make the county more competitive for jobs and investment.”

Macdonald said the evaluation committee recommends Standard Valuation Services. He said it displayed strong work experiences with jobs in both the public and private sector. Standard Valuation Services has worked with both Cook and La Salle counties, and have done market analysis for several different states. It’s also located out of Willowbrook.

Macdonald said the project will cost $250,000, and the funding has already been earmarked in next year’s fiscal cycle.

“It is anticipated that from long-term savings via reduced appeals, improved accuracy, and streamlined futureized processes for assessments the county will quickly recoup the costs associated,” Macdonald said.

Macdonald said the project should take a year to complete.

Board President Drew Muffler said as of right now, the Grundy County Assessment Office handles 10 of the county’s 17 townships. Seven of the townships have their own township assessors, but Muffler said none of them are well-versed in commercial industrial assessment.

“I think you will see EAV (equalized assessed value) going up overall because of this,” Muffler said. “I think you’re going to see people that were under assessed and people that were over assessed. What I do know is that we’re going to have it to where it’s all now going to be fair and accurate.”

Equalized Assessed Value is often referred to as EAV, and it reflects one-third of a property’s fair cash value as of Jan. 1 each year based on the previous three years of data. Assessors are responsible for sharing the EAV of real estate in a region with the region’s taxing bodies so they know what to expect in the upcoming year.