Following is a list of the Townships affected by the 2007 Revaluation, and the approximate dates the 2007 Assessment Notices will be mailed:

Norwood Park ------- 03/08/2007
Evanston ------------- 03/30/2007
Elk Grove ------------ 04/11/2007
Maine ---------------- 05/04/2007
New Trier ------------ 06/04/2007
Niles ----------------- 06/29/2007
Palatine -------------- 07/26/2007
Northfield ----------- 08/27/2007
Wheeling ------------ 09/21/2007
Barrington ----------- 10/13/2007
Schaumburg -------- 11/06/2007
Leyden --------------- 11/30/2007
Hanover ------------- 12/21/2007

It is important to note that it is the assessment that must be appealed to keep our real estate taxes in check. The new assessments will be the principal factor in increased tax bills. The 2007 tax bills become due in 2008, and that is much too late to initiate a Protest. In almost all cases there is no procedure available to meaningfully reduce the taxes at the time the tax bill is received. In Cook County, a taxpayer has 30 days from the time the assessment notices are mailed, to file an Appeal with the Cook County Assessor’s Office. Evidence to support the appeal must be submitted to the Assessor's Office within approximately fourteen (14) days of the initiation of any complaint (with the exact due dates being established by and available from the Cook County Assessor's Office). Under new rules established by the Assessor's Office, supporting evidence must be submitted by the initial document deadline date or it will not be considered by the Assessor's Office.

The Assessment Notice should not be ignored because it is not a tax bill. The 2007 assessment should be compared with the 2006 assessment, which will also appear on the 2007 Notice. If there is a sizeable increase in the 2007 assessment, an increase in the 2007 tax bill is a certainty. Thus, it is absolutely essential that you contact us immediately upon your receipt of the Re-assessment Notice(s) so that your new assessment can be analyzed, and any required appraisal reports or other supporting evidence be ordered, put together and submitted to the Cook County Assessor's Office in a timely fashion.

If you have any questions about the reassessment process in general or about a specific property, call our office at 312-726-1833 and one of our attorneys will be happy to answer your questions.

The pastors of many churches mistakenly believe that their church property is automatically exempt from property taxes. However, if the church does not go through the necessary steps to be declared exempt, the church’s property is listed on the Cook County assessment rolls as taxable property.

Tax deeds transferring ownership from churches is a significant problem that the local church leaders and Cook County public officials have been focusing upon in recent years. Many of these churches are located in areas that have began to gentrify, where real estate has started to become more valuable and these churches are working with the City of Chicago to redevelop vacant lots into affordable housing. The church cannot re-develop this land if it no longer has the deed to the property.

FKK&R filed a petition to vacate a circuit court order directing the issuance of a tax deed. After an adverse finding in the circuit court, FKK&R won a reversal in the appellate court. This case is significant because it is the first reported case commenting on what must be proven to demonstrate that a property used by a religious organization was “exempt from taxation” to vacate a tax deed under the Property Tax Code. Other churches in similar circumstances will benefit from this decision.

Capital continues to flood the commercial and industrial real estate sectors at unprecedented levels, to the point that basic assumptions and traditional valuation concepts have lost much of their meaning. The availability of capital has become the major driver of value (purchase price). In a seller’s market, properties are no longer sold for real estate reasons. Risk is no longer a factor to be considered in net operating income projections. Underwriting has become so aggressive that its main task is to inflate cash flows. Holding periods have become shorter and real estate fundamentals are not nearly as decisive as they were in determining value.

Those changes, and the issues they raise, have become the basis for the American Property Tax Counsel’s Seminar, which will be held at Torrey Pines just outside of San Diego on October 12 & 13, 2007.

At the Seminar, we will propose certain valuation modifications and certain strategies that take into account the changes created by capital flows. In addition, there will be a session in which we will review commercial and industrial Cap Rates as an adjunct toward discussion of the changes in commercial and industrial real estate stemming from current capital flows.

Finally, there will be a Panel Discussion in which tax managers for regional mall owners and tax managers for anchor department stores consider a valuation methodology that accommodates their synergistic assets.

If you are interested in attending the seminar or in receiving materials that were prepared for and presented at the seminar, please contact Linda at linda.talbot@aptcnet.com.