Mission Statement

The Assessment Office plays an important role in your local government.  The office responsible for over 25,000 parcels.  Our mission is to provide the Public with top quality services by helping the public access information and understand the property assessment process.

The Assessment Office strives to administer an accurate, fair, uniform and timely assessment of all real property in Woodford County in accordance with and as mandated by the Illinois Property Tax code and the Illinois Department of Revenue.

Duties

The Supervisor of Assessments’ Office is responsible for maintaining ownership records on all property located in the county. This is accomplished through reviewing documents recorded in the office of the Woodford County Recorder of Deeds to determine if a property is transferred, partitioned, annexed or de-annexed.

The Supervisor of Assessments DOES NOT calculate taxes, determine tax rates or collect taxes.  The Assessors concern is value, not taxes.

If a property is transferred, the tax rolls are updated to reflect the new owner and billing address. The mapping department is notified of any partitioned property to create new parcel numbers to correspond with the new legal description(s). Any annexed or detached parcels must be recorded so that tax rolls can be updated to reflect changes in parcel numbers, legal descriptions, taxing districts, exemptions, and billing addresses.

The Supervisor of Assessments compiles all sales data on properties, which is sent to the State of Illinois Department of Revenue as well as local assessing officials. By State law, the local assessing officials are to assess residential, commercial and industrial properties at 33 1/3% of its market value as of January 1 of the assessment year.

The Supervisor of Assessments must be a Certified Illinois Assessing Official and must maintain that certification with thirty hours of successful class work each year. In order for the county to be reimbursed one-half of the Supervisor’s salary by the State, the law requires that the residential, commercial, and industrial property must be assessed between 31 1/3% and 35 1/3% level of assessments on average.

The Supervisor of Assessments’ Office administers all real property tax exemptions. Non-homestead exemptions are for property owned by governmental entities and religious institutions. The primary authority for approving these exemptions is the Department of Revenue. Homestead exemptions are for taxpayers who own and live in the property.

Equalization
Woodford County assesses property at 33 1/3 % of fair market value. Equalization is the application of a uniform percent increase or decrease to assessed values of various areas or classes of property to bring assessment levels, on the average, to a uniform level of market value. A study is done each year by township to compare purchase prices to assessed values to determine the percentage to be applied. That percentage is called the equalization factor.