Forum has a caring attitude Assessors say they feel pain
There was no doubt the candidates for assessor in Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles townships knew high property tax bills in a struggling economy are how they will be judged on the April 7 ballot. All five of them addressed that issue right out of the gate at a candidates forum Thursday night.
One by one, all the candidates tried to show how they will tweak the system to ease some of the negative impacts higher tax bills have on property owners in a sluggish economy.
"We have to live with that (burden)," said St. Charles Township Assessor Colleen Lang, the only incumbent assessor on the panel. "To say that is easy is not the truth. It is very difficult. We meet people every day, seniors in particular, who are having a difficult time meeting that tax obligation. It's a difficult reality of life. We are frequently talking about ways to change legislation."
Until that happens, the key is to make sure homeowners are taking all the tax exemptions they qualify for, Lang said.
Every candidate promised to be constantly available to spend unlimited time with individual taxpayers to explain assessments.
"There are people that will feel their assessments are incorrect one way or the other," said Sue Krol, candidate for Batavia Township assessor. Incumbent Tammy Kavanaugh had the flu and did not attend.
"Nobody is going to be assessed exactly where they think they should be," Krol continued. But if you explain the data behind an assessment, people will walk away not necessarily happy, but at least satisfied that they weren't being fleeced, Krol said.
Geneva assessor candidate Gary Fritz said people get the most upset when they feel their assessments are out of line with similar properties. He said he believes he's the only candidate in Geneva with the appraisal training to make sure that issue is fixed in Geneva Township. His opponent, Denise LaCure, promised to help ensure assessments are more equal, fair and accurate by reassessing every property every year.
St. Charles candidate Chuck Ingersoll said one of the other major flaws in the system, one that results in costly and unnecessary appeals, is a general unwillingness of assessors to admit when they've gotten an assessment wrong. Ingersoll saw that first hand after his own assessment appeals for his property failed repeatedly thanks to a technicality he didn't know until an expert pointed it out to him. Ingersoll won his appeal the next time around and a $16,000 reduction.
"They said, 'this time, you've got us,'" Ingersoll said. "If they knew all that time that I had that adjustment coming, why didn't they give it to me before? I don't think that is a fair type of a system. If people have something coming, give it them."
Forum: All willing to explain process