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Our property tax system has run amok

I was at the Sun City-Huntley meeting on July 18 listening to all of the trauma about how high Kane County taxes were. All I know is I live in Sun City in Grafton Township of McHenry County and my taxes were as high or higher than theirs.

Here are my questions:

If you were going to give an 18 percent reduction in assessment to over 9,000 parcels, wouldn’t you automatically believe it would create major problems?

For the rest of the people on the McHenry County side of Sun City who only received an approximate 5 percent reduction in their assessments and paid disproportionately by having their taxes go up 10 to 12 percent, how will you ever correct that? In the meeting, they said they will “correct” it by raising Grafton Township’s assessment more than 5 percent next year in relationship to Rutland in Kane County.

So the people who paid higher this year in McHenry County will pay even more next year?

The overall “assessment” I believe of most people at the meeting that this is a system run amok. There are too many taxing bodies, rules and exceptions to rules that create a virtual maze of a tax system. One of the most vocal responses by the people was to the statement by Mark Armstrong, Supervisor of Assessments of Kane County, who said he requested that the government look at how the five Huntley taxing bodies are calculated by the assessors when they cross county lines, unless those taxing bodies block the request.

How can you have a system where a taxing body can block the request of the county supervisor of assessments?

Also, maybe there should be a cap on the amount any individual assessment can change in one year so it doesn’t create a short-term nightmare as we have seen. Of course, that would limit your personal power but you should think about it.

Your insight would be appreciated.

Don Eliasek

Huntley