Residents of Scott County can breathe a sigh of relief as the Illinois Department of Revenue set the property assessment equalization factor, also known as the "multiplier", at a stable rate of 1.0000, as per the announcement made by IDOR Director David Harris. The purpose of the multiplier is to ensure that property assessments across the state's counties remain uniform, a key driver in fair taxation practices and maintaining a level playing field for the state's taxpayers.
This year's established equalization marks consistency with the preliminary figure put forth earlier on February 15. According to the Illinois government's news release, striving for assessment parity is crucial given how local tax districts, stretching over multiple counties, rely on these valuations for dispensing critical services like education, fire protection, and community colleges.
Enacted legislation from 1975 stipulates property in Illinois should be assessed at one-third of market value, though, with farm property posing an exception — homesites and dwellings on farmland are assessed similarly but the farmland itself adheres to its distinct value and its own assessment rules. As it goes for Scott County, its assessments are calculated to be 33.33% of market value, determined from property sales data stretching from 2020 through 2022,” detailed the official statement.
Contrasting to last year's figure, which was slightly less at 0.9852, the 2023 equalization factor holds at 1.0000 following a public hearing and deliberation on the original figure proposed. A county's multiplier is meticulously derived through a yearly comparison between actual sales prices over three years against the county-set assessed property values. This process, as stated by the IDOR, not directly dictate the total property tax bills but rather assigns a more precise share of tax responsibility to the individual taxpayer.
