Surely, assessments can be simplified

In today's mail was a letter from the Cook County assessor about the tri-annual property reassessment to determine my property taxes for 2017. I was shocked that my assessment went up 46 percent!

I know most everyone's assessment would probably go up too and the tax levy would probably be about the same anyway. Once I figured how to use the assessor's search engine, I was able to quickly find the required number of properties like mine with lower assessments to support my appeal.

What is curious is that there are so many different assessed values for properties that are basically identical. There are probably many neighborhoods in Cook County, like mine, that have only four or five models of tract home built years ago.

Granted, there are properties that have more curb appeal or may have had improvements added (e.g. a detached garage, room addition, etc.), but why so many different assessments? With the detailed characteristics available to the assessor, it should be an easy matter of finding all those properties sitting on similar-sized lots that are basically all the same and giving them identical property tax assessments rather than trying to estimate market value.

Think of the saving in providing more uniform assessments and eliminating or reducing the appeal process. Then resources could be applied to assessing those neighborhoods where properties are all unique or where upgrades have been made.

All I can think of is that this is a another self-perpetuating government bureaucracy that needs to be simplified and waste eliminated.

Look at the improvements our secretary of state has made in his office.

Also, I really got tired of the assessor's photo popping up every time I displayed a new page on the website. Didn't we see something similar with a former governor's name appearing on all toll booths?

Joe Celosky

Hoffman Estates