• Mark D. Armstrong, CIAO, Kane County’s supervisor of assessments since 2006, has nearly 30 years’ experience in property valuation. Click here for more about Mark. To Ask Mark a question, email it to KaneSOA@co.kane.il.us or mail it to: Mark at 719 South Batavia Avenue, Geneva, IL 60134.

It’s tax-assessment publication season, so this week’s “Ask Mark” is another timely missive.

Q: How do you choose a newspaper to publish assessment changes?

A: In Illinois, the primary means that taxpayers are notified of assessment changes is publication in a newspaper of “general circulation”, and the main requirement in choosing a newspaper is its place of publication.

For the purposes of the property tax code, the place of publication is the location where a newspaper is first made available to the general public; this location can be a newsstand, retail store, vending box, delivery point, or a mail room where the newspapers are labeled for mail delivery. A newspaper may have no more than one place of publication.

In selecting a newspaper in which to publish the assessment changes, the state property tax code has the following requirement:

“The publication . . . shall be printed in some public newspaper or newspapers published in the county. In every township or assessment district in which there is published one or more newspapers of general circulation, the list of that township shall be published in one of the newspapers.”

Therefore, only newspapers published in Kane County (or in a particular township) can be considered for publications.

* * *

You can receive an e‐mail notice of the publication of a township assessment roll by visiting  KaneCountyAssessments.org,  selecting the  “subscribe”  link, and entering your email address.

Read More

• To obtain information on the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, visit this website.
• To download Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board forms, visit this address.

More ‘Ask Mark’

• ASK MARK: Can a Non-Attorney Represent Me Before the Board of Review?
• ASK MARK: If I Didn’t Get Notice, Can I Get an Extension to File an Appeal?
• ASK MARK: My Granddaughter Lives With Me, Does Her Income Count Against a Senior Homestead Exemption?
• ASK MARK: I Didn’t Get My Homestead Exemption, Can I Get Back Taxes I Already Paid?
• ASK MARK: Is the Assessed Value of a Recently-Sold Home Necessarily One-Third the Sale Price?
• ASK MARK: I’m a Renter — Can I Still Get a Homestead Exemption?
• ASK MARK: Can You Tell Me When 2014 Tax Assessments Will Come Out?
• ASK MARK: What Credentials Does My Real-Estate Appraiser Need?