A number of residents have contacted us with questions and concerns regarding property reassessment increase notices they received last month from Cook County, particularly when in comes to the assessments of their land, so we decided to do what we can to sort things out since the county has provided little or no explanation.
Every three years, Cook County reassesses property values for about one-third of the townships within the county. This year, Barrington Township was among them as well as north shore communities in Evanston and New Trier Townships, so some comparisons can be made since Barrington Hills, Barrington and South Barrington were once termed the, “North shore without the shore.”
The mean increase in overall property assessments for 2016 in Barrington Township is 17.35%. Evanston and New Trier Townships were even at an increase of 24.04%. We’re not sure what formula resulted in the two being exactly the same, but the figures can be viewed here (use the drop-down menu for different townships).
As can be seen from the figures for Barrington Township, percentage increases ranged from a low of 11.99% in downtown Barrington to a high of 24.67% in areas of Barrington, Inverness and South Barrington depending on the neighborhood classification.
Barrington Hills, for the most part, falls into neighborhood “21” with a mean increase for 2016 of an even 14%, but there has been a very specific assessment increase that has been applied to our residents than to any other community we can find in our limited research.
Barrington Hills residents living in Cook County have had their land value assessment increased by 50%. The only exceptions to this increase we’ve found is if the county considers the land to be agriculture for taxing purposes (or in their terms, “Farm land under use-value pricing”), and the difference can be very substantial. Even vacant residential lots were increased by 50% in the Village, while properties designated as “farm land” are assessed at only about $2,250 per acre (or $225 an acre applying the 10% factor Cook County uses to calculate taxes).
According to one assessor, Cook County assessed this residential property increase since “someone could buy a five-acre property for $300,000, tear down the dwelling, and the vacant lot might still be worth $250.000 on the market.”
Given this rationale, one might think the same would apply to some properties in South Barrington too, especially in the original subdivisions with larger lots. Well, one would be wrong.
We found a waterfront lot on Watergate Drive in South Barrington that resulted from a knockdown of the original home built in the 1970’s (pictured left). This 1.88 acre parcel has been on the market for $999,000, yet the 2016 assessment for this property only increased 14.3% for a taxed market value of $92,520 according to records ($9,252 after the 10% factor Cook County applies).
It’s unclear why Barrington Hills residential property owners were singled out for this exceptional assessment increase. We’ve not witnessed an excessive number of knockdowns in the last three years, but one thing did change. Cook County purchased Horizon Farms in Barrington Hills in 2014, and it’s likely the highest amount the county has ever paid per acre for property.
We’ll continue our research in pursuit of more definitive answers, but in the meantime, appeals to the latest reassessments must be filed no later than Monday, April 18th.
Thanks so much for researching this confusing process!
Why don’t residents protest this? Nothing will change, if they continue to be silent.