Residents of Saline County can breathe a sigh of relief when it comes to their property tax calculations for the coming year. The Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) has issued a final property assessment equalization factor, also known as the "multiplier," for Saline County, and it stands unchanged at 1.0000, as announced by IDOR Director David Harris. This essential figure ensures uniform property assessments across Illinois counties, creating systemic fairness in taxation across the state.
The role of the multiplier is to balance assessments and maintain equality amongst taxpayers, especially where local taxing districts such as schools and fire protection services overlap county lines. According to an announcement by the State of Illinois, without this mechanism in place, taxpayers with similar properties could face significant disparities in their tax burdens. The steadfast 1.0000 multiplier for Saline County is a reflection that assessments there are in line, being at 33.24% of market value based on sales from 2020, up to and including 2022.
Assessment practices in Illinois are rooted in a 1975 law stating that property should be valued at one-third (1/3) of its market value for these purposes. However, farmland is assessed differently to account for its agricultural economic value, while residential parts of farms are assessed and equalized in the same fashion as other forms of property.
While the equalization factor's purpose is often misunderstood, it's important to clarify that changes in this number do not directly equate to increases or decreases in total property tax bills, as detailed by the State of Illinois. Those bills are determined by the amount local taxing bodies need to maintain community services each fiscal year. Provided this amount is consistent with the prior year's revenue, total taxes should remain unaffected, even if individual property assessments climb.
