East Central Reporter

Coles County has received a final property assessment equalization factor of 1.0000. This was confirmed by David Harris, director of the Illinois Department of Revenue. The property assessment equalization factor, also known as the "multiplier," helps standardize property assessments among counties to ensure fairness among taxpayers. This adjustment is crucial as many local taxing districts overlap multiple counties, such as school districts and fire protection districts.

According to a law passed in 1975, property in Illinois must be assessed at one-third of its market value. However, farmland is assessed differently, focusing on its agricultural economic value and is not subject to the state equalization factor. In Coles County, assessments are at 33.47% of market value, based on property sales from 2021 to 2023. The assigned equalization factor pertains to taxes for 2024, payable in 2025. Notably, last year's equalization factor also stood at 1.0000.

This final assessment equalization factor follows a public hearing on the tentative factor, which was issued on December 19, 2024, also at 1.0000. Each county's equalization factor is determined annually by examining the sales prices of properties over the last three years and comparing them to assessed values. If the three-year average level of assessment is one-third of the market value, the equalization factor remains at one.

A change in the equalization factor does not necessarily alter total property tax bills. Local taxing bodies determine tax bills based on the annual financial requests they submit. If the requested amount does not exceed the previous year's amount, total property taxes should not rise despite potential assessment increases. An individual property's assessed value dictates the taxpayer's share of the tax burden, and this share is not impacted by the multiplier.