Kane County to offer no-show tax hearings

Want a lower tax bill in Kane County? Don't say a word.

Kane County taxpayers filed more assessment appeals in the last tax cycle than ever before. Now the county is about to make a change that will likely see even more assessment appeals in the next cycle.

Taxpayers filing an appeal will no longer be required to show up for the hearing or even make a statement by telephone, Supervisor of Assessments Mark Armstrong said Friday. Those options will still be available if someone filing an appeal wants to verbally state a case, but Armstrong said the heart of an appeal is always the evidence submitted when the appeal is first filed.

"There's also a process where the assessor has to turn in evidence and (the person appealing) can cross-examine the assessor if that's what they want to do," Armstrong said. "We're finding a lot of people don't really want to do that. They're nervous about it. We're not taking away that right, but if we can eliminate about half of the time we spending talking then we can have appeals move at a faster clip."

That's a key goal because the number of appeals (about 3,600) rose 400 percent this past cycle. However, the deadline to get appeals done so tax bills can go out on time (May 15) didn't change. More work to accomplish in the same time frame brings the county closer to missing the deadline and suffering the $30,000 per-day penalty the county would pay for blowing the deadline. The penalty would be paid by tax dollars.

The good news for taxpayers is 69 percent of residential appeals resulted in an assessment reduction. That was a 10 percent increase above the success rate of the previous two years. Armstrong said that's evidence that public education at what truly amounts to an assessment mistake is on the rise. That said, Armstrong doesn't believe there's been a drop in the quality of the initial assessments made on property.

"Our appeal rates are still lower than surrounding counties," Armstrong said. "I think it just means we're doing a better job of letting people know what their rights are.

"And I know some people think we are trying to keep assessments high. But there is no benefit to keeping assessments high. None."