THURSDAY
September 10, 2015 • 75¢
TOUGH MATCH FOR NORSEMEN Newark volleyball happy to learn from formidable Rosary despite loss / 16
KendallCountyNow.com
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Property tax assessments rise in county 5 years since townships last saw increase By MATT SCHURY mschury@kendallcountynow.com
The Hometown Days baby contest is always a lot of fun for kids, parents and grandparents. Here, Austin and Avery Melick enjoy the day.
HOMETOWN DAYS A CROWD PLEASER Photos by ERIC MILLER • emiller@shawmedia.com
B
ig crowds turned out over the weekend to enjoy Hometown Days, the city of Yorkville’s annual endof-summer community celebration. The festival featured a carnival, live music, bags tournament, car show, food and more. A city official reported the festival attracted its largest Friday night crowd ever.
The Ultimate Air Dogs show thrilled the Hometown Days fest crowd by making long jumps over a pool of water.
Kendall County property tax assessments appear to be on the rise this year for the first time in about five years. Andy Nicoletti, Kendall County’s supervisor of assessments, anticipates the average increase in assessments to be about 4.5 percent compared to last year. The county is required to publish all property assessments this year in what is known as a quadrennial or general reassessment year. Property owners should find their new assessment in this week’s paper printed among the roughly 53,000 other properties in the county. Property owners will also receive a notice of their new assessment in the mail soon. Assessments for properties in Oswego and NaAuSay townships are printed in this week’s edition of the Ledger-Sentinel, while assessments for properties in Bristol, Kendall, Seward, Lisbon, Big Grove and Fox townships have been printed in this week’s edition of the Kendall County Record. Little Rock Township assessments have been published in the Plano Record. According to state law, properties must be assessed at one-third their fair market value and based on a three-year average of property values. This year’s assessments are calculated using data
SPORTS
OPINION
Foxes rebound at home
Full harvest moon time
Yorkville takes advantage of three Indian turnovers in 40-14 win over Sandwich / 16
In Reflections, Roger Matile writes about changes that mark the coming of fall / 4
Joe MacDonald Pastor
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from 2012, 2013 and 2014, which Nicoletti says were stable years for assessments. Nicoletti reminds property owners that if they are not happy with their new assessment they can appeal to the county’s Board of Review within 30 days of the date of publication of the assessments. The final date to file an assessment appeal with the Board of Review this year is Oct. 13. All assessments and links to filing with the Board of Review can be found at the county’s website at www. co.kendall.il.us/assessments. The assessments you see this week will be what the county will use to calculate your property tax bill next year. Typically the county mails the bills in early May. The bills are payable in installments in June and September. “As the assessments increase, the tax rate will actually decrease and so it may not mean that your taxes are going to go down; it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are going to go up either,” Nicoletti said. Officials use assessments to calculate tax bills each year by multiplying the value of each property by the tax rate for each government agency, minus any exemptions. Despite a lower assessment, tax bills in the county may not automatically go down, Nicoletti points out. Two factors control the amount of your tax bill, your assessment and the tax rate. If one increases, the other is usually going down, Nicoletti said. Referring to the rising assessments, he said, “It means your property is going to be worth
See ASSESSMENTS, page 2
WHERE IT’S AT Forum ................................................... 5 Fire calls ............................................. 11 Local news .....................................2-12 Opinion................................................. 4 Police reports....................................12 Sports............................................ 13-16
Vol. 151, No. 37 3 sections