DuPage tax bills arriving soon

Tax bills are being mailed to DuPage County property owners, who can expect average increases of 4.55 percent.

The jump in tax bills may come as a surprise in light of the economy and the plunge of the housing market, according to county Treasurer Gwen Henry.

“People will be concerned because their property values went down and their taxes may have gone up,” Henry said Thursday. “But tax bills aren’t going to go down unless the taxing bodies ask for less money. That’s why I always tell people when they call that they need to watch what the taxing bodies are doing.”

Henry said she expects to get plenty of phone calls once DuPage’s roughly 320,000 tax bills hit the mail on Friday. Meanwhile, more than 270,000 tax bills are being sent in Will County.

“On the first day last year, I received somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 calls,” said Henry, adding that her staff took calls from hundreds of additional taxpayers. “They were coming in faster than I could answer the phone.”

This year’s higher tax bills come despite property values falling almost 6 percent, a historic drop that hasn’t occurred in decades. That decrease is based on property sales between 2007 and 2009, reflecting the fall of the housing market and the fact that new construction accounted for only .49 percent of the county’s total assessed value.

“It is important to understand that the assessment is a variable, which when divided into the amount of funds requested, creates a percentage or tax rate each of us must pay,” Henry said.

The average tax rate for 2010 taxes, she added, was $6.31 cents per each $100 of assessed value, an increase of more than 10 percent compared to the prior year.

Henry said included with the tax bills is a guide providing answers to frequently asked questions about property tax bills. She added that taxpayers, especially seniors, should check be sure they are receiving all appropriate exemptions.

DuPage County taxpayers who have not received a bill by May 6 should call the treasurer’s office at (630) 407-5900. Help also is available at treasurer.dupageco.org. Will County taxpayers can visit willcountytaxbill.com.

Property taxes are due in two equal installments. The first is due by June 1 and the second by Sept. 1.