The process of how the value of your property is determined for tax purposes can seem more than a little opaque and frustrating. Peoria Township wants to ease some of that confusion as your tax bill hits the mailbox.
Holli Heinz is the office manager and deputy assessor for the Peoria Township Assessor’s Office. She says property value assessment is a daunting task, handled by a computer-assisted mass appraisal system that takes a look at more than 44,000 parcels across Peoria County.
In compliance with Illinois statutes, the system re-evaluates every piece of land in the county every four years. The last time that happened was 2023.
“We use the last three years of current market sales that are advertised in the market,” said Heinz. “They’re not foreclosures. They’re not auction sales or things like that. And based on that system, we also pull sales within the same subdivision of a particular property, and that’s how we determine what the values are for the property.”
The sales are also comparable. For instance, single story homes are grouped with other single story homes, condos with condos and so on.
In off-years, the only major changes to appraisals come from improvements tracked by the assessor’s office, things like building an addition to a home.
For the mass appraisal system, home sales are the single most important factor for determining property value. That means the system’s evaluations are highly dependent on the housing market. In a hot market full of quick sales, pressure to overbid and rising home prices, the system’s evaluations are naturally going to climb.
As Heinz points out, it’s the kind of market we’ve seen over the last three to four years.
“We were dropping assessments a little bit every year, but then all of a sudden, I don’t know if it was the low interest rates or what it was, but the market turned,” she said.
Heinz says, given the high number of individual parcels, mass appraisal is the only way to reasonably manage the process. However, the system’s reliance on property sales means it can overlook the condition of a property.
Heinz gives the example of two identical houses in the same neighborhood: the first house most recently sold for $50,000, while the second sold for $100,000. Mass appraisal factors the $100,000 sale into the assessed value of the $50,000 house, though its conditions may be worse and the homes may not be comparable.
“So what we rely on with our homeowners is for them to contact us and we would be happy to come out and adjust your condition on our record and that will lower your assessment,” said Heinz. “So if you’re like, ‘that house is like mine, but it’s completely remodeled and mine is not. I don’t think we should be valued the same.’ Then you call, our office will come out and possibly take a look at it.”
The factors playing into a property’s “condition” are numerous. Heinz says they include things like location and square footage. Are there walls bowing out? Holes in the roof? Does the basement flood? All of these things could possibly contribute to a lowered assessment.
If the assessor’s inspection lines up with their conditions on file, the next process is the appeal. Heinz says homeowners typically receive a yearly notice of their assessment in August. They have thirty days from then to get the appeal process rolling with the Board of Review in the Peoria County Courthouse.
Heinz says appeals to the board require photos of the home.
“I would suggest [also] having more than three comparables if you can find them that are similar to yours,” she said. “But show that we are valuing them less than what your property is valued at.”
You don’t have to knock on your neighbor’s doors to get information about comparable properties. Peoria County’s Graphical Information System website can show the last three years of sales in a neighborhood, filter by factors like square footage and export data sets directly to Excel spreadsheets.
Forms for appeals and other useful documents are on the Supervisor of Assessments' website.
If a homeowner goes through the entire appeal process and is still unsatisfied with the Board of Reviews’ findings, Heinz says they can file with the State of Illinois.
Heinz stresses, though assessment assigns a baseline, the assessor’s office is far from the only governing body deciding the number on your property tax bill. The State tax rate is applied, as well as the levy’s from taxing bodies like municipalities, parks departments and school districts.
The state also applies what’s known as an “equalization factor,” which brings assessed property values in line with a mandated minimum level.
“We offer exemptions,” said Heinz. “Homeowner exemptions, home improvement exemptions, senior exemptions, disability and disabled person exemptions. We have that all available for homeowners. I don’t think everybody’s aware of that and that it decreases the tax bill amount before taxes are figured.”
To raise awareness of exemptions and appeals, and make the property assessment process less opaque for taxpayers, the township office is offering some classes this year. Heinz calls it “Assessments 101: Everything You Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to Ask.”
“It’s going to cover pretty much any question that we get from a homeowner on a regular basis,” she said. “We’re going to cover it in this class.”
The first class is Tuesday, Jan. 28 from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Peoria Township Assessor’s Office at 427 W. Main Street in Peoria. Heinz says space is limited so RSVP at 309-324-7459. She says additional classes are planned for later this year.
