DuPage assessors say your property values haven't dropped

Despite nothing but bad news about the housing market, DuPage County property is more valuable than it was last year. At least in terms of its taxable value.

Four of the county's nine township assessors have sent notices to taxpayers informing them their property values have increased between 4.8 percent and 5.9 percent. The other five township assessors will be sending out reassessment notices by Nov. 15, which will likely contain a similar message.

Assessments are based on property sales data from the past three calendar years. In this case 2005, 2006 and 2007 when the market was in better shape. It could take one or two more years of downward property sales trends before owners see a reduction in value, some township assessors said.

"It just takes time for the assessment to catch up with the sales trends," said Craig Dovel, the county's supervisor of assessments.

DuPage still has fairly positive property sales trends, which has a positive affect on the assessment formula, real estate experts said. Home sales are down significantly, but sellers are still making money.

"Houses aren't selling at the prices sellers are looking for, but they are still selling them for a profit," said Naperville-based Coldwell Banker agent Gail Niermeyer.

She said buyers are more aware of a property's assessed value than in the past to make sure they're not overpaying for houses.

But the higher assessments are not necessarily bad news to taxpayers. Schools and other local governments levy for specific amounts of money, and their tax rates may fall or not increase as much if the overall taxable value of property increases.

"In order to see a reduction in tax bills there would have to be a reduction is tax levies," said Milton Township Assessor Bob Earl. "Even if there's no increase in assessment you can still see an increase in your taxes because the levy goes up."

He said taxing bodies have the final say in collecting property taxes and that assessments are merely a guide for elected leaders to use when determining the annual levy. Even with a tax cap in place for most governmental entities, tax levies can be increased despite a decreased value of property because most governments are not at their state-imposed rate limits.

"It's up to the taxing bodies to control their spending," said Naperville Township Assessor Warren Dixon Jr. "We could cut assessments in two, but they still have the right to levy."

Some residential property owners have also voiced their displeasure over commercial properties getting assessment breaks while neighboring residential property values rise. They complain this requires smaller residential properties to shoulder a larger tax burden than the much-larger commercial properties.

"The rules are different for commercial properties than residential," Earl said. "The valuation is more complex for commercial than residential and there's a bunch of different ways to approach (assessment appeals) that residential owners don't have at their disposal."

Even with only four township assessment notifications out and despite the downturn in the economy, Dovel said assessment appeals have been light so far.

"We do receive a lot of initial questions about the perceived trend and the current market," he said, "but we explain the cause and effect and most people understand."

Generally, property owners have 30 days to appeal the assessment notice. The best way to win an appeal is to collect data on values of similar properties nearby that are assessed at a lower level, Dovel said. Even then, he added, appeals are rarely upheld.