Department of Revenue Releases Preliminary Cook County Equalization Factor

The Illinois Department of Revenue (the Department) recently released the tentative 2009 equalization factor or “multiplier” for Cook County. Based on its analysis of assessed values, property transfers and other information the Department announced a tentative multiplier of 3.1062.

The Property Tax Code requires the Department to issue a multiplier that, when applied to the assessed value of all property in a county (except for specially assessed property such as farmland), will result in the aggregate assessed value of all property in the County being 33.33% of total fair cash value. This equalization of assessed values is accomplished by comparing recorded sales prices to assessed values for the three prior years, and it is done in an effort to implement property tax limitations and certain state funding programs.

The tentative multiplier is only an estimate by the Department. It is being released before the Board of Review has certified the final assessments. As a result, it does not account for changes in the assessments that the Board of Review may make. A summary of the tentative and final multipliers for the last five years is as follows.

The Cook County Board of Review is completing the assessment review process for several townships, and this will be a particularly difficult year to predict the final multiplier. The final assessments will have to reflect both a change in the assessment levels for the various classes of property and the resulting effective County reassessment undertaken this year. The influence of the downturns in the economy and the housing market will also likely influence the Board of Review’s decisions and the final multiplier.

At this point in the Board of Review’s assessment complaint process, 18 townships remain open and awaiting decisions. The Board anticipates holding hearings through August 6, 2010, and certification of the assessments will occur sometime after that. Only after the Department issues a final multiplier will the Cook County Clerk be able to extend property taxes and provide tax rates to the Treasurer’s Office, which will eventually collect the 2009 property tax levies.