Why you should appeal assessment

Regarding your Oct. 6 article titled "DuPage assessors say your property values haven't dropped": Assessors by law are required to value your home based on the true market value. Everyone should appeal any assessment that this year stays the same or rises. Values in DuPage have absolutely dropped over the last year and a half. This year alone the drop exceeds 8 percent. Assessors use multiyear sales data and look at the market as a whole. They will state to you, "One year and one sale do not make a market." But, this is not true this year. Our valuations have been raised in prior years based on irrational exuberance. Past valuations are just crazy.

Homeowners could have a private appraiser, for a fee, look at the value of their homes and submit that as evidence of a lower valuation. You may have to file a formal appeal after the assessor arbitrarily rejects your valuation. The township assessors are not working for the homeowners, they attempt to maintain values so the tax base does not go down. In America we have never experienced a period of such deflation in home values. If the true valuations were used this year, our property taxes would drop dramatically and all governmental bodies will experience extreme budget shortfalls. The assessors are trying not to let this happen at the expense of the homeowner.

Our governmental leaders have got to start planning for huge cutbacks as the revenue will drop. Sales tax revenue is also dropping as retail and car sales falter. Internet sales, which are not taxed, are rising, and the sales tax revenue stream is shrinking. Every homeowner should demand that they be treated properly when it comes to their new assessed value.

Robert Cohen

West Chicago