Anyone want to buy a house in Home Park?

Uh oh - are you moving, Doug???? Noooooo!

Depends on the new tax hike really.  We just had an increase in our property tax and it raised my payment $200 per month.  The bank says its because my property tax went up.  Now we have a chance at even more and to be honest I don't get much service from the City now.  In the last 3 winters we have had 1 (one) plow come to our street and it was only because every neighbor called and we were trapped on the court due to ice, and it was Christmas Eve.  When I called the Snow Patrol I was told we get done every snow and after I informed him that was untrue he checked and was rather embarrassed that indeed it was true.  He was very nice and said they would do better so we will see this winter.  I moved from a house that I sold for $28,000 more than I paid for this house while paying %50 less in taxes.  While we absolutely love our house and neighborhood  it will come down to can I afford to live here. Half our City employees don't even live here that should tell us something.  I just read that the City is kicking the Park District $130,000 for the study to be done on the lake, since when did they need the money?  I hope they reduce the salary of every Dept. head, Lawyer, Accountant, Asst. Mgr., Mgr,  before they start cutting services, which are few and far between now.   I do have a fire hydrant in my yard right next to my drive way that I have backed into twice for about $4,000 worth of damage LOL, wonder if they would lower my taxes if i put my own house fire out instead of using the fire dept. hahaha.

So your property tax went up $2,400 a year?

Seriouly?

I have to take look at what the City mailed us, my wife takes care of all that stuff.  I double checked with her again today and she said the actual increse was closer to $300 a month not $200.  The bank said its due to property tax increase.  I am going to the County  to see what the heck is going on.  But ya seriously! 

So how did you increase the real value of your house by $150k-ish in a single year??? Something's really not right!!!

OK this is what I have, the County or who ever has not sent us anything about the tax increase but they did send it to the bank..  The monthly payment went up $328.95 and my taxes went up $1745.48 per year.  This is a $145.45 per month increase just in taxes..  Because there wasn't enough in escrow to pay the increased bill they had to raise the escrow payment $328.95 to catch up.  If I understand this right after I have caught up with the taxes my payment should go down around $145 .  Since its public record I will just tell you my taxes are $3,979.94 a year.  So whats that make my house worth in there eyes?  Where is the Tax Assessors office and who do I talk to? I agree somethings really not right.

Ok - I understand having to catch up the escrow...but even so, they're saying your taxes went up $1,745.40 in a single year?  You didn't do anything that increased the value of your house 40% did you?

Doug,  here's a link to the assessment office:  http://www.maconcounty-il.gov/index.php/supervisor-of-assessments/  Have you applied for the Homestead Exemption?  We did that the first year after we bought our house and it helps.  Here's a link:  http://www.maconcounty-il.gov/index.php/assessor-faqs/what-exemptions-are-there.html

Thanks Matt.

I don't think we did anything to  increase the value other than fixing the pool.  We didn't add anything.   I will try and get up there today.

Sorry Thanks Kris....I wasn't paying attention to who wrote what LOL.  I am heading up there right now.

Matthew, I should bring over my grill to your house and have it stolen too.  It would serve the theives right.  The whole bottom fell out of it this Summer.  The insides completely rusted to nothing and collapsed onto the ground into little rusty, goopy bits when I was trying to light it.  Glad it didn't blow up.  It's only 3-4 years old and it wasn't a cheapy model either! 

Doug, I hope you get some good news downtown!

Kris

Well that was quick and painful!!!!   The reason they didn't send me anything telling me my taxes were going up is because "by law they don't have too." Only every 4 years.  I asked her then if you don't notify me how do I dispute it and she just smiled and said the "realtor should of told me",  nice we didn't use a realtor and even if we did was the realtor supposed track all that for me and call me 3 years after the sale and let me know? What a crock of crap.  The previous owners paid $1800 less than I am paying now because they were senior citizens, and I have the homestead exemption.  They have my house so over valued it is sickening, $44,000 over what I paid for it and there isn't a house within 10 blocks of me that has sold for what they say the house is worth. If someone offered me what they say the house was worth i would sell it in a heartbeat. Two houses down just sold for $110,00 and my neighbors house has been on the market since the day I moved in and they are asking $129,00 and have not even had an offer.  So I am screwed until June because the deadline for me to dispute this tax bill ended Oct 5th.  Had someone notified me I could of disputed it and got lower tax rate but because they don't have to tell me by law so I am screwed.   No wonder Mayor McElroy didn't know we were  going into a tails spin, no one is required to tell anyone anything I guess.  This town is being run by who?  Really who is in charge is it the County, the City, the Park District, ADM because it sure as hell isn't the people!

So we can expext our property tax to be raised by the City, Then by the School District for what ever they decide, County is going to need more money to pay for their new building,  the Park District because lake developement will cost more than they already have.  Is it any wonder the population is decreasing and moving to surrounding area?




Matt sorry about the grill but they saved you the  $5.00 haul away fee.

 

Bummer, Doug.

 

I didn't know they only had to inform you of a re-assessment once every four years...I thought they could only re-assess your property every four years unless you made major changes...

 

My wife and I were talking last night about the possiblilty of consolidating the City and the Park District. I'm inclined to think the park district should be organized along the lines of the library. Surely doing so could result in consolidating several administrative and forestry/mowing/groundskeeping/policing positionsbetween the orginizations without sacrificing the public's level-of-service. Ideally, we'd elimenate one whole taxing body, and realize a little economy-of-scale in one fell swoop.

 

Hmmm...I haven't researched it, but I think this would have to go on the ballot and be voted on (in a general municipal election!)...It may be a ballot question worth looking at.

 

 

Doug, that blows!  I think they should be required by law to notifiy residents, property owners of increased (or decreased) assessments.  Seems like a real sneaky way to rip people off.

On consolidating the city and park district - I'm not sure if I would support that or not.  The city council has their plate full with other city business as it is.  I would like to see Park District board meetings be changed to the evening when people could actually attend them or atleast videotape their  meetings and upload them to their Web site for us all to see.  Really in today's age, anybody can record video and place it online very easily and cheaply.  With YouTube it doesn't cost anything.  I'd like to see the county do the same thing.  Not that I would watch all those meetings (yawn) but if a citizen wanted information about a specific meeting or vote - it would be there archived.

The City of Decatur Motto should be......

                                                                 "The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must..."
                                                                                                                                                                                                       Hurry back now ya hear.

I'm not too crazy about appointed boards.  Usually the only people who are appointed are the same twelve people who are on practically every other Decatur board.  Once in a while I'll see a name I don't recognize, from the movers and shakers list on a city commission, but not very often.  There's too much inbreeding as it is.   But I understand your point about reducing costs and not duplicating services.  I would love to see more communication and cooperation between different local government bodies. 

I personally think we could probably do without the Decatur Township and have its duties absorbed by the county.  We all know the current school funding system we have now creates sometimes great disparity.  Maybe having county-wide districts would be a better idea.   

Kris

OK, my educaiton is improving on the property tax notification process...Doug, I just sent an email with slightly more specific informaiton, but I think it's worth putting most of the content out in public.

 

The County sends the notification of a change in taxes to the mortgage holder – who is then obligated to notify the property owner within 15 days. It's also my understanding that “obligated” seems to be interperted by many mortgage holders as “may”. I've also learned that you can request the county send you (the property owner) the notification directly – with the mortgage company's approval...Then, you are obligated to forward the notification to your mortgage holder...lol – and I'm pretty sure that's “obligated” as in “You're going to write a check to cover it one way or another!”.

 

You should also check with the supervisor of assessments to make sure you're taking advantage of all the exemptions due to you. I did this myself earlier this year. I didn't realize I could claim an Illinois Homestead Exemption – this is my first ever house, it's a perminant residence, and for some reason, I thought having an office in any part of the house disqualified us.