Riverside Township assessments going down 12%

The Cook County assessor’s office announced this morning that residential property owners in Riverside Township will see assessments adjusted downward by 12 percent in order to reflect the downturn in real estate values over the past year.

The new assessed values will be reflected in the second installment of the 2010 tax bill. Notices of the adjustment are being mailed to property owners this week.

“People could see a savings,” said Maura Kownacki, spokeswoman for the Cook County assessor. “But in the end it will depend on local governmental entities, local tax rates and the fact that the state legislature is phasing out the 7 percent cap on reassessments.”

Riverside Township‘s Assessor-Elect Fran Sitkiewicz, however, said the impact of the lower assessments would probably be a wash to local taxpayers.

“Government agencies still need their money, so it’s just a simple mathematical formula,” Sitkiewicz said. “Governments aren’t making any adjustments downward, so if assessments go down, the tax rate will go up.”

The main benefit of the adjustment in the assessments is that the new assessment will more clearly reflect the market value of a home, Sitkiewicz said.

“It makes it more understandable for people,” Sitkiewicz said, “because a lot of time the assessment wasn’t relating to the market value. This will make it clearer, so that when people call us they’ll have a better understanding of the true value of the home and how it relates to taxes.”

According to a press release issued by the Cook County assessor, as a result of the reductions, assessments will now equal 10 percent of market value. Commercial properties, which are not included in this adjustment, will be assessed at 25 percent of market value.

Riverside Township is just the third township in Cook County to receive notice of a downward adjustment in property assessments. In May, the assessor announced adjustments to property assessments in Cicero and River Forest townships. Cicero properties will see a 15 percent reduction, while River Forest will see reductions of 5 percent.

The rate of the reduction is based on an analysis of home sales and foreclosure information, according to the Cook County assessor’s press release,

“After analysis of market sales and foreclosure data, we determined that Riverside homeowners should not have to wait until their properties are reassessed next in 2011 for the downturn to be reflected in their assessments,” said Cook County Assessor James Houlihan in the press release.

Riverside Township includes most of Riverside, North Riverside east of