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Error means bigger tax bill for some in Kane County

Some Kane County residents will have another reason to hate property taxes in the next billing cycle as the amounts due will feature a one-time big increase for many taxpayers.

The increase stems from an error in Kane County's property tax extension. Some total assessed property values in the Elgin Area School District U-46, Elgin Community College District 509, Gail Borden Public Library and Fox River Water Reclamation District were understated in the tax bills due the second half of last year. That resulted in much lower property tax bills for those residents but much higher tax bills for others in those districts. Now it's time for Kane County residents to pay back their share of the burden, while taxpayers in those districts in other counties will see lower bills.

Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham's office is responsible for the tax extension. His office sent out a letter last month notifying all affected taxpayers they will see a one-time increase due to a software error by the Illinois Department of Revenue. Cunningham said Wednesday, however, there are too many factors in computing tax bills to pin the blame only on the state.

“Mistakes were made, and we do apologize,” Cunningham said. “I'm not happy with the situation. And collecting taxes is not the most popular thing governments do. We are all taking steps to improve and ensure these kinds of errors don't happen again.”

Cunningham said his office first learned of the mistake last May. By then, it was too late to reprint the tax bills. Beyond that, a delay in getting the bills out would have resulted in delayed collections and lost revenue through the interest governments reap on the money collected.

“For some, we would have been talking about $100,000 a day in losses,” Cunningham said.

How much of an increase can impacted taxpayers expect? Cunningham said it's impossible to give a precise and true number until his office has all the information from all the other cogs in the tax collection wheel for this coming installment of the tax bill. One way to estimate, he said, is for taxpayers to calculate the difference between what they paid in their previous two tax bills.

“That's a rough idea, but really we are all just guessing right now,” Cunningham said.

Tax bills are mailed May 1.

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