Galesburg Reporter

Henderson County has been issued a tentative property assessment equalization factor of 1.0000. This was announced by David Harris, director of the Illinois Department of Revenue. The equalization factor, often referred to as the "multiplier," ensures uniform property assessments across counties, an essential requirement due to the overlap of some of the state's 6,600 local taxing districts.

In Illinois, properties are required by law to be assessed at one-third of their market value, with certain exceptions for farmland, which is assessed based on productivity standards. The equalization factor is determined annually and is based on the comparison of the sales price of properties sold over the past three years to their assessed value.

The assessments in Henderson County are at 33.33% of market value, considering sales from 2021 to 2023, hence the equalization factor is set at 1.0000. This factor is applied to taxes for the year 2024, payable in 2025, and is consistent with last year's factor for the county, which was also 1.0000.

The tentative factor is subject to change if the County Board of Review makes significant alterations to the county's assessments or if further data suggesting adjustments to IDOR's estimates of the average level of assessments in the county is presented. A public hearing on the tentative multiplier will occur between 20 and 30 days after its publication in a local newspaper.

It is important to note that changes in the equalization factor do not affect the total property tax bills directly. Local taxing bodies set tax rates based on their annual financial requests. If these requests remain unchanged from the previous year, total property taxes will not increase even if assessments rise. The assessed value of a property determines the tax burden an individual taxpayer will carry, which the multiplier does not alter.