Tax bills don’t reflect true value

Single-family home owners living in Antioch Township have received Lake County real estate tax bills from the Lake County treasurer in 2011 that have been approximately 10 percent greater than those they received in 2007.

Also, homeowners have received blue card notices from the Lake County and Antioch Township assessors that show an approximate increase of 15 percent from 2007 to 2011 on both assessed valuation and fair market values. Check out your blue card notices and see if that is your case.

Whatever formulas the Lake County and Antioch Township tax management people have been using to compute our real estate taxes are not in keeping with the reality of a significantly dropping real estate market throughout the country.

Specifically, statistics have been published that show that the median value of a single family home in Antioch has dropped 30 percent between 2007 and 2011. Ask any real estate broker about the reality of falling home prices and they will positively agree about big selling price reductions taking place.

Since it is predicted that the real estate segment of this “Great Recession” could take another three to five years to “correct itself’ one wonders why the Lake County tax management people have not taken some remedial steps sooner to adjust fair market values on our tax bills.

It has been reported that the Lake County chief assessor, Martin Paulsen, is considering changes similar to Winnebago County. Let us hope that these changes reflect the reality of the market and that they are not delayed to the point of being too little too late.

Jack Brinkerhoff

Antioch