Housing values have dropped significantly, but property tax bills and home value assessments released to DeKalb County residents this month won’t match.

DeKalb County residents will be receiving their home value assessments in mid-October.

Margaret Whitman, chief DeKalb County assessment officer, said she expects to get many calls from confused homeowners.

“People don’t understand the system,” Whitman said.

Illinois is one of the few states where property values and taxes are a year-and-a-half behind, said Charles Lindhart, broker and owner for McCabe Realtors.

The assessments DeKalb residents will soon receive are from an assessment for Jan. 1, 2007. Home value assessments are also based on an average of the housing market over the last three years, Whitman said.

Lindhart said most of the slow down in the housing market occurred in the last half of 2007. Homeowners won’t see that decline reflected until the 2008 tax bill is assessed and released in 2009, he said.

“If the value of property decreased in 2007, the assessment for Jan. 1, 2008 should be a lower figure,” he said.

Whitman said she has a higher amount of people on the sheriff’s foreclosure list. Some other homeowners who haven’t lost their homes are also suffering.

DeKalb County Treasurer Christine Johnson said she already received a couple of letters from residents who cannot afford to pay their property taxes and are requesting to get an extension of the bill’s due date.

Johnson said she typically advises people who can’t afford their property taxes to start with their banks.

In the current economic climate, credit is expected to tighten so homeowners might have a harder time getting a loan.

The process for homeowners who cannot afford property taxes have to auction off their taxes to
the bidder with the lowest interest rate, Johnson said.

“When ready [the homeowner] pays the tax amount plus the interest rate,” Johnson said.

Those who declare bankruptcy can’t sell their taxes.

Last year, Johnson said she had the same amount of homeowners who cannot afford their taxes.

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