The State Statutes require all real property to be assessed at a price that "it would sell for at a fair and bona fide sale by private contract on October 1 next preceding the date on which the Assessor shall complete his assessments as required". Therefore, annually assessments are to represent market value as of October 1st the pretax year.

To comply with the Statutes, an annual reassessment program must be conducted. An application is filed with the County for approval and upon receipt of the County Board approval, the application is forwarded to the State. The State either approves or disapproves the program. We have received approvals from the State annually.

Once State Approval is received, the general steps in the program are as follows:

1. Delineation of neighborhoods or market area (VCS).
   
   
2. Inspections conducted on an ongoing basis by market area for data management.
   
   
3. Analysis of all recent sales of real property including a comparison of sales with assessed values of properties sold. Commonly referred to as a sales ratio study, this study reflects the percentage level of sales vs. assessments established October 1 of the pretax year. If the sales analysis does not approach 100%, analysis and investigation into the sales is performed. Following completion of the analysis, revisions are made to all properties effected.
   
   
4. Review within each market area (VCS) for uniformity within that market area is conducted. This is accomplished through statistical studies known as the coefficient of deviation.
   
   
5. Identification of real property trends occurring within the taxing district overall and then within each market area. This is accomplished through resale and paired sale analysis.
   
   
6. Review of all real property values is conducted.
   
   
7. Review and revision of all unit land values.
   
   
8. Review and revision of all improvement factors and adjustments.
   
   
9. Application of these factors to improvements with adjustments reflected on each property in a uniform manner.
   
   
10. Reconciliation and revision of true value for each property.
    
    
11. Notification through annual postcards of revised values to each taxpayer.