The Economic Development Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Wednesday, June 13, 2007, @ 7:00p.m. in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Eileen Dubin called the meeting to order.  Members present were Ken Andersen, Jeff Metzger, Sr., Michael Stuckert, Pat Vary and Steve Walt. Ms. Fauci was absent.  Others present were Gary  Hanson, Margaret Whitwell, Christine Johnson, Roger Hopkins, Steve Dillett and Joe Misurelli.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Moved by Mr. Stuckert, seconded by Mr. Andersen, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from May 2007.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

          Chairman Dubin said that she needed to move Custom Aluminum to item # 6., and add item # 8.) MEGA discussion with Roger Hopkins, and under Old Business she would also like to have 7a.) Report from Roger Hopkins on Grundy County document.

          Moved by Ms. Vary, seconded by Mr. Stuckert, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.  

SUPERVISOR OF ASSESSMENTS ANNUAL REPORT

          Ms. Margaret Whitwell, Supervisor of Assessments for DeKalb County, said that she has been working in this position for sixteen years now. She has five full-time employees and two part-time employees.  She explained that her department is the beginning process of the Property Tax cycle.  They do their work first and then turn it over to the Tax Extension Clerk who does the calculation of the rate.  After the Tax Extension Clerk finishes her work, she sends it on to the Treasurer for the tax bills.  Everything that she does is mandated by the State of Illinois. 

          She is the supervisor for the township assessors.  At this time there are 19 townships in the County with 11 assessors.  She has one assessor who does five townships in the southern part of the County. 

          Ms. Whitwell explained that all of the assessors turn their work into her after they do all of the assessments.  She enters all of that data and then she performs an equalization factor where she has to bring each township to a 1/3 of market value according to their assessments. This is a mass approach.  Once that is done, her office has to publish them in the papers and send out notices to those people who have assessment changes.  This year is a Quadrennial year that happens once every four years.  This is where each assessor has to physically view all properties and reassess if necessary.  Everyone’s assessment will be published this year in the newspaper in the Fall.

She continued by stating that farms are assessed by their productivity and they are up by 10% this year.

          In 2006 was the implementation of Bulletin 810 by the State.  The changes were incorporated in 2006 after almost three years of work-new soil survey, review of all farm parcels as to land use, new farmland calculation formula, and new productivity values.  The change in farm assessment values in 2006 was less than one percent, less than the original three percent estimate from the Department of Revenue.

          After the notices are sent out people have the right to file a complaint if they have one and file it with the Board of Review, whereby a hearing will be heard on their complaint.

          They update all cadastral maps, maintain all exemptions, they are the keeper of names and addresses of properties in the county.  She is the Clerk of the Board of Review and the Chairman of the Farmland Assessment Committee.

She further explained that she reports to the Department of Revenue.

          She further explained that our 2006 total assessed value was $2,121,224,767, more than an 11% increase from 2005.  Our assessment increases in 2005 and 2006 were very consistent. 

          The assessed value for new construction in the 2006-year was $94,869,268, equivalent to almost $285 million in market value. 

          The number of subdivisions platted in 2006 decreased from 93 in 2005 to 73 in 2006.  The median per acre sale price of bare farmland in DeKalb County in 2006 was $8,633 (this value does not include farmland purchased for development).  There were 1,867 new parcels created in 2006 compared to 2,260 new parcels in 2005.

          Equalization factors (multipliers) for the townships varied a great deal this year, ranging from 1.0000 to 1.0909.  When she calculates multipliers she looks at three-year averages.  We are not looking at any downturns yet. 

          She explained that 74 out of 41,000 taxpayers contested their assessments last year.

          The Facilities Management Department scanned documents for her office from 1977 to 1995.  So now the County has digital maps from the original Sidwell maps.

          The committee thanked Ms. Whitwell for her very informative report.

TREASURER’S REPORT- RESOLUTION: SALE OF DELINQUENT PROPERTY.

          Ms. Christine Johnson, DeKalb County Treasurer, updated the committee on her office.  She said that she has three full-time employees and 3 part-time employees.  They have used technology to increase their efficiency.  They were development partners with a company called DevNet who runs their property tax program and helped design it.  Her office takes pride with the fact the DevNet now has that program in 39 counties in Illinois.  Her office also now uses bar code readers in their office and they accept credit cards and direct debit for payment on tax bills.

          Most recently they have worked with IMO to develop quick check tax payments.  This enables people to be able to go on our website and look up most of their tax information.

          They are the bankers for the County and we have a $68 million budget.  Approximately 25% of that is derived from property taxes. All of the County’s revenues flow through her office. 

          Her office is also the Collector for the County for tax bills.  They mailed out 36,000 tax bills and will collect $154,432,531.33.  They disperse the funds collected every 30 days and they do invest it while the funds are in their custody.  They have earned almost $3 million dollars in interest and that money gets distributed to the taxing bodies proportionate to what they have collected for them. 

Ms. Johnson explained the Senior Tax Deferral Program to the committee.  Seniors over 65 who make less than $50,000 a year can apply and have the State of Illinois pay their taxes for them.  They apply in January/February of each year and then her office does a title search on the property and determines if they are qualified.  If they are qualified and when the tax bills come out, the State of Illinois will pay their real estate taxes for them.  Right now they have about $593,000 outstanding that the State has paid for people.  She feels that it is a good program for people.

Ms. Johnson then approached the committee about the resolution that is before the committee tonight regarding the delinquent property tax item.  This is the seventh year of this program and it is a housekeeping item.  She explained that the resolution before them is for the sale and deed for the property that is delinquent, and the process is subject to state law.  They offer these properties at the tax sale where most of the taxes are sold.  Some taxes are not sold and this is an instance when no one buys the taxes.  So after three years, Joseph Myers and Associate, our agent, takes deed to those properties on behalf of the County.  They offer them for sale on a sealed bid auction.  This program saves the County money and the other taxpayers get fair and equitable treatment because it goes back on the tax rolls.  This property parcel #18-32-452-006 is in Somonauk Township and she is asking the committee to please forward it to the full county board for their approval.

Moved by Mr. Metzger, Sr., seconded by Ms. Vary, and it was carried unanimously to forward this resolution to the full board for approval.