Assessments, tax bills should go down

There are many cogs in the machine that cranks out your property tax bill every year. And plenty of ways to gum up the works.

In order to make that machine run smoothly, there are township and county assessors who should adhere to market trends, maintain accurate assessments, reassess regularly and not find themselves in a position to make up ground; there are county tax extenders who make sure the rates are set properly using both aggregate value of property and the amount each taxing body requests; and, of course, there are myriad units of government that levy for your tax money.

At various points in recent history, we've seen examples at every level contributing to errors large and small in property tax bills.

But throw a politician into the machine and watch the machine seize up.

Larry Suffredin, a Cook County commissioner from Evanston, a key figure in Cook County raising its sales tax earlier this year, is suggesting the county send out tax bills three or four times a year rather than twice a year in order to soften the blow of large assessment increases.

But like spreading out payments on anything, psychologically speaking all that really does is make the total look smaller. And, gee, isn't that one of the central reasons for how our economy went to pot?

And in this case, it likely would cost Cook County millions more each year to do.

That said, property taxpayers in Cook County and the rest of the suburbs should be looking at smaller tax bills next year.

"Should" being the operative word.

We've heard far and wide this year that assessment cycles didn't coincide with the housing market taking a powder. And that was the reason we didn't see smaller assessments this year. Given that the housing market was already in a downward spiral and only worsened this year, we're not sure we buy that argument.

For the property tax machine to work properly, assessors should be mindful of real market values next year and, for the most part, lower assessments. If that happens, we're likely to see county tax extenders raising rates as high as they legally can be raised in order to give taxing bodies as close to what they're legally allowed to levy as possible.

The thing is, if property values are down 10 percent, those tax extenders won't be able to give school districts, park districts, townships, libraries, mosquito abatement districts and the rest all they're asking for.

That's where taxing bodies need to be careful.

Best they start thinking now about how to operate with less money next year. And, frankly, they're not statutorily bound to ask for the maximum. A little more prudence is warranted in this depressed economy.

Rest assured that if all this comes to pass, you'll soon see more local referendums.

But at least you'll have a say in whether you want your taxes raised.