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Northern Illinois Real Estate - Lake County tax bills sent out - did yours go up?

By Julie Anne

Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams

May 26, 2010 05:13 AM

As a real estate agent I am seeing home values decrease, many property taxes going up, income decreasing, cost of living going up. Families are struggling to do the best they can in the environment we are living in today.

Many Lake County Property Owners were expecting thier property tax bills to go down due to the homes assessed values decreasing. The tax bills that were sent out to property owners a couple weeks ago and were for 2009. The tax bill is payable in two installments the first one being June 3rd and the second September 3rd. Many of the assessed values of the properties in Lake County as with many other counties went down, though many of the tax bills stayed the same or saw an increase. Assessments vary from town to town and even subdivisions can vary.

A couple of the reasons for the tax increases are:

Many taxing bodies like park districts, schools and other municipal bodies raised their tax levies slightly which are allowed under the states cap for inflationary increases to offset the loss they took from the assessment decreases. This would also help them to get more tax revenue from new developments in Lake County.

Many homeowners appealed their taxes last year in Lake County and recieved a decrease in their taxes. The money has to come from somewhere so the loss is passed on to the other homeowners in the area. (The appeal process application time has passed for 2010, it ended fall of 2009).

If you are late on paying your Lake County Taxes, there is a 1.5% interest penalty on a monthly basis. If you make a partial payment there will be interest charged on the balance. If you have not received your tax bill you can call the Treasurers office at 847-377-2323.

If you would like to make a payment online go to www.lakecountyil.gov/treasurer. Which also has a copy of the bill and much more useful information on your Lake County Illinois Property.

Questions on any of this? Contact me, I would be happy to help you.