Kane County home values down, some tax bills up

With the first installment of Kane County property tax bills due in less than two weeks, 67 percent of local homeowners have learned they have a more expensive tax bill than last year despite the billable value of their home dropping.

Mark Armstrong, Kane County’s supervisor of assessments, Thursday explained to a committee of county board members exactly why that constituent-angering fact is true.

The answer is some local governments haven’t decreased spending, Armstrong said.

He used an analogy based on a fictitious community with seven homes that all have equal value. In that scenario each homeowner pays one/seventh of whatever the tax levy local governments have put forward. The tax levy roughly represents what local governments have decided they need in order to run operations.

If the values of those seven homes increase, taxes will stay the same as long as none of the local governments raise their levies. If the values of those homes stay the same, but local governments raise their levies, those seven homeowners will pay more. And, if the seven homes all decrease in value, and governments either keep their levies flat or increase them, all seven homes will also pay more.

“So, if my property value goes up 20 percent that doesn’t mean it costs 20 percent more to run county government,” Armstrong said. “However, the reverse is also true. If your property value goes down 20 percent that doesn’t mean it costs 20 percent less to run government, operate schools, fight fires, etc. I think everyone is capable of deciding if they are getting their money’s worth from any level of government.”

Overall, the billable value of homes in Kane County dropped by a median rate of 7.18 percent for the tax bills coming due June 1 and Sept. 1. The tax bills for those same homes increased by a median rate of 2.87 percent.

The tax levy for Kane County government was slightly less than $52 million in 2008. For 2010, the county’s tax levy was $54.3 million.