Assessors Collaborate

In the confusing world of Illinois township politics existing alongside more typical local government a lot of us already find confusing and often alien... both having tax assessors leads to further confusion and frustration. American bureaucracies are notorious for their Departments of Redundancy Dept, so skepticism is warranted. Tom Kacich went to the supervisor of assessments for a quick run down of how these tasks are actually a cooperative effort in his Mailbag web article last night:

Property assessments
“Property tax assessors have been in the news a lot lately. How many assessors are there in Champaign County and how do they relate to each other?

“There’s a county assessor that handles property tax bills and periodically sends out adjustments, but there’s also a township assessor. What do they both do?”

Paula Bates, the supervisor of assessments for Champaign County, explains the process:

"There are 30 townships in Champaign County. We have 19 township assessors. There are seven multi-township assessors and 12 township assessors that are elected, or contracted by the townships," she said. "The township assessors assess all real property in their jurisdictions and turn in their work to the county assessment office yearly.

"The supervisor of assessments also has assessment authority to assess or make adjustments (equalization factors). Our office also maintains tax maps, property record cards, taxpayer names and addresses, property tax exemptions, assessment notices, provides clerical assistance to the board of review, and provides assistance to the township assessors."

For other local questions and answers, check out the full article here.