East Central Reporter

The Illinois Department of Revenue has assigned Richland County a final property assessment equalization factor of 1.000 for 2016, leaving it unchanged from 2015.

The final equalization factor was set following a public hearing on the 1.000 tentative factor, which was issued in April 2016.  

This equalization factor, also referred to as a multiplier, is for 2016 taxes, payable this year.

The most recent assessment/sales ratio study -- a review of assessed values compared with actual property sales during 2013-15 -- shows that  Richland County's assessed values are 33.07 percent of market value.

State law requires property in Illinois to be assessed at one-third of market value. If a regularly performed ratio study shows that assessments are either higher or lower than 33.03 percent, an equalization factor/multiplier is calculated and applied to non-farm property to bring the level of assessment to 33 1/3 percent. Farmland assessments are set at one-third of the property’s agricultural economic value, without the application of the multiplier. Farming home sites and dwellings are subject to the equalization factor. 

The equalization factor process assists in providing uniformity in property assessments between counties -- an important process since several of the state’s 6,600 local taxing districts cross county borders. The equalization process was put in place to avoid significant inequities between comparable properties.