Kane County revamping property tax bill look

Kane County property tax bills will look different this spring.

For one thing, if you want to complain to somebody about how high your taxes are, the bills will now include the names and phone numbers of elected and appointed officials for the various taxing districts.

“The people I serve are frustrated,” Kane County Treasurer Chris Lauzen said in a news release. “They want to know who to talk to. This puts that information in one place, right on the bill.”

The printed bills will also include a pie chart showing how tax dollars are allocated among city, school, park and other taxing districts.

Paper copies of the bills are being mailed to the owners of 199,000-plus properties this week. The online versions are already available at treasurer.kanecountyil.gov.

“Let's face it: the only way to make a property tax bill better is to make it lower,” Lauzen said. “I can't do that. But I can increase transparency and accountability, and that is exactly what I’m doing.”

The pie chart has long been available on property tax accounts on the treasurer’s website.

The treasurer’s office collects and distributes taxes. The various taxing bodies determine how much they want.

He said he is also introducing a tracking system to provide information about when bills are mailed, when they are delivered and when payments are received and posted.

Payment-received date information has been available on the website since 2006.

The treasurer’s office will also let people sign up to receive their bills electronically.

The first installment of taxes is due June 1. The second is due Sept. 1.

Workers from the treasurer’s office will meet with the public to explain the changes and check to see if taxpayers are receiving exemptions to which they are entitled.

The events are from 5:30 to 6 p.m. May 4 at the Batavia Public Library; 5:30 to 6 p.m. May 5 at the Aurora Public Library West Branch; 6:30 to 7 p.m. May 5 at the Aurora Public Library Santori Branch; 6 to 6:30 p.m. May 6 at the Huntley Area Public Library; 5:30 to 6 p.m. May 7 at the Sugar Grove Public Library; 5:30 to 6 p.m. May 11 at the St. Charles Public Library; 5 to 5:30 p.m. May 18 at the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin; and 6 to 6:30 p.m. May 18 at the Gail Borden Library South Elgin branch.