Our office is currently working on the 2012 assessments. When information is available on the 2012 assessment appeal dates, it will be posted here. Below are the procedures used for the 2011 appeal period.
2011 DORR TOWNSHIP ASSESSMENT PUBLICATION AND FILING DEADLINE FOR APPEALS
The 2011 Dorr Township Assessments will be published on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 in the Woodstock Independent.
The deadline to file an appeal this year is Friday, October 21, 2011.
APPEAL INFORMATION
Our office is required to value property using a prior 3 year average of sales statistics. However, the current Board of Review rules use more current sales to value properties. For this reason, we are asking anyone who is concerned about their assessment to file through the McHenry County Board of Review appeal process.
This year, our office will review specific instances as an informal appeal (see below). All other instances must file a formal appeal with the Board of Review. This is due to an exceptionally high volume of inquiries and time-constraints of our staff.
WHERE TO FILE:
Informal Appeal: Appraisals and arms-length sales occurring in 2010 or 2011 only.
These appraisals and sales must be hand delivered to our office by October 12, 2011 as an informal appeal. After October 12, please follow the instructions below for filing a formal appeal with the McHenry County Board of Review.
To file an informal appeal, no appeal form is necessary. We simply require the appraisal or closing statement and your contact information. After review, our office will contact you on or before October 18, 2011 with our decision.
Appraisals and arms length sales may be time-adjusted by 0.75% per month for market conditions in order to obtain the assessment valuation date of January 1, 2011.
Dorr Township Assessment Office
140 Newell St.
Woodstock, IL
Walk-in Hours:
Monday through Friday
9:00 am – Noon
1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Formal Appeal:
Please download the Residential Assessment Appeal Packet or the Commercial/Industrial Assessment Appeal Packet from the McHenry County Assessment Office.
Print out the packet, fill out information requested and attach your evidence. The appeal forms give the option to have the Board of Review make their decision based on your evidence without an oral hearing. Because of everyone’s time constraints, our office recommends this option. At these hearings, neither township assessor nor property owner is present.
If the option is selected to have an oral hearing, you must be prepared to present your evidence in person. The option for an oral hearing may be appropriate if you believe you have unusual circumstances that can best be stated personally. The location, date and time of oral hearings are determined by the Board of Review.
The completed appeal forms must be sent to or hand delivered to McHenry County on or before October 21, 2011. Please follow the instructions as indicated in the Appeal Packet.
As our office receives the completed appeals from McHenry County, we will be doing statistical checks at random to verify the accuracy of our property records. We will also review each completed appeal that has been submitted to McHenry County and possibly call to stipulate on an assessment before the appeal is scheduled for a hearing.
FINDING COMPARABLES FOR YOUR APPEAL
“The Board of Review encourages property owners to select residential comparable sales from June 2010 through the First Quarter of 2011. Comparable sales selected beyond March 31, 2011 may be considered but not without the scrutiny and review of the Board of Review. These comparables will also be weighed against comparables that sold closer to the January 1, 2011 lien date, if available. If a comparable sales grid is submitted as evidence, all comparable sales will be adjusted as deemed reasonable by the Board of Review as part of their review process.” - 2011 Board of Review Guidelines
From my personal experience with the Board of Review I have found that they are exceedingly fair. They do consider the evidence submitted. Some comparable sales will be better than others, so it is the weight of the evidence that seems to matter most.
In this current market, there are fewer comparable sales to choose from. So it is our advice to do your best with what is out there.
The optimum sales would be good sales occurring in your neighborhood or similar neighborhood. The properties compared would be similar to yours in terms of size, age, style and condition. All I can emphasize is to do your best when finding your sales comparables. Try to find what seems to best represent your property and what is going on in the current market. If there are no sales in your neighborhood or if they have all been foreclosures, make a note of it.
The idea is to paint an accurate picture to the Board of Review of what is going on marketwise in your particular area. The above guidelines from the Board of Review express optimum evidence. However, if you need to go beyond the suggested sale dates to find comparables, that is fine - with the understanding that the Board of Review may have to adjust for time. Do your best.
List of Sales
To better serve our township residents, we are providing a list of sales in Dorr Township from March 1, 2010 - March 31, 2011. The sales on this list, according to our records, would meet the requirements of sales that could be used in the appeal. These sales may be time adjusted by the Board of Review. This list must be used in conjuction with the Property Search feature on our website to help fill out the comparable grid on your appeal form.
Instructions on Using the List of Sales
Use the list to help find your comparable sales. Then go to our Property Search, insert the Parcel Number or Property Address from your list. This will give you a link to display the property record. Each property record can be printed and attached as evidence on your appeal. Fill out the comparable grid on your appeal form to the best of your ability. There is some requested information on the comparable grid that is not on the property record. Fill out what you can. Our office will provide the remaining information to the Board of Review when we respond to your appeal.
Photos can be a nice touch to add to your appeal. However, our office will provide small photos of your property and the comparables you selected when we submit our information to the Board of Review. So, unless you wish to provide larger photos, your own photos are not a necessity.
Please note that there may be additional sales that you are aware of that are not on the list. These sales may have been recorded outside of the timeframe or may have had reason to not be included as a good sale. These sales will still be able to be found under our Property Search function, but I recommend verification as to why that sale may have been excluded from being useable.
Sincerely,
Veronica Myers
Dorr Township Assessor