BOR to begin tax appeal hearings next week

The newly-appointed Ogle County Board of Review (BOR) will begin annual property tax appeal hearings next week — several weeks behind schedule.

Supervisor of Assessments Jim Harrison said Monday that hearings on the less complicated appeals are set for Feb. 9 and 16.

Hearings for the industrial properties in Dement Township are scheduled for Feb. 22, 23, and 24.

Harrison said the resignations of veteran BOR members Jerry Griffin, Forreston, and Paul Lower, Rochelle, delayed the start of the hearings.

“We’re about a month behind. Usually the hearings are all done by the end of January,” he said. “But I don’t think it will delay the tax bills.”

The three-member Board of Review usually meets in January each year to hear tax appeals. The decision on contested assessments must be made early in the year in order for real estate tax bills to be calculated and mailed on time.

Real estate taxes are due in two equal installments, the first due in early June and the second in early September.

Griffin and Lower resigned Jan. 5 in the wake of a 56 percent pay cut for BOR members.

In October, the county board reduced the annual salary for each member of the three-member board from $4,500 to $2,000.

Before resigning, Griffin and Lower worked with remaining BOR member Joe Yockey, Stillman Valley, to research this year’s appeals and make recommendations on the decisions.

Harrison said their work before resigning was beneficial to the process.

The county board replaced the two on Jan. 17, appointing Robert Godman, Byron, and Thomas P. Lewandowski, Oregon, as regular BOR members.

Sheryl Hopkins, Polo, and Mitch Montgomery, Rochelle, were appointed to the newly-created alternate posts.

Yockey was appointed to the BOR last June.

Once the hearings begin, the BOR will consider more than 160 tax appeals filed last fall.

Those appeals include 40 industrial properties, the assessments of which were increased by $46 million last fall for taxes payable in 2012.

The properties are in Dement Township in the southeast corner of the county.

Because no one ran for Dement Township assessor in April of 2011, township officials hired Mt. Morris Township assessor Paul Peterson, who is also a real estate appraiser.