Supervisor of Assessments

Our mission is to administer and provide accurate and timely assessments of all taxable real property in Bureau County in accordance with and as mandated by the Illinois Property Tax Code.

The Supervisor of Assessments’ Office administers the property assessment cycle for the local real estate tax. The office was created by state law to provide statistical assessment performance data to the Illinois Department of Revenue. The Supervisor of Assessments Office also provides technical advice and provides statistical analysis of assessment data to Bureau County’s Township Assessors and the Bureau County Board of Review

Your property taxes provide much of the funding of our local schools, the county, municipalities, park districts, library districts, fire protection districts, townships and other local taxing bodies. The property tax is a local tax, administered by local officials, and the funds raised stay in the local communities.

Your real estate tax bill begins with the assessment process in your elected township assessor’s office. It is the assessor’s job to discover and place value on the property within their jurisdiction.

The functions of the Supervisor of Assessments’ Office are as follows:

• Provide technical assistance and information to the individual township assessors to assure uniformity and accuracy in their work 
• Monitor those functions to assure compliance with state statutes and Illinois Department of Revenue procedures
• Process exemption, preferential assessment, and abatement applications and apply them to eligible properties 
• Maintain county cadastral mapping parcel numbering system, including aerial photography, boundary maps, and other property and owner information to be used for the property tax function governmental office use for the public
• Analyze sales data reports and conduct comparative assessment studies annually
• Apply the resultant appropriate equalization factors annually on a township by township basis
• Provide taxpayer notification through mailed notices, newspaper publications, and website listings
• Prepare assessment abstracts and reports for submission to the Illinois Department of Revenue
• Monitor and provide access to an unbiased appeal procedure through the office’s statutory function of serving as clerk to the Bureau County Board of Review
• Assist the Bureau County Board of Review as clerk in their defense of assessment appeal decisions before the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board
• Certify the completed assessment roll to the Bureau County Clerk in a timely fashion to facilitate tax calculations and billing in compliance with state statutes

The Bureau County Board of Review

The Bureau County Board of Review is a locally appointed quasi-judicial board responsible for the determination and recommendation of eligibility of certain exemptions and direction of the appeal process which includes hearing real estate assessment complaints, rendering decisions regarding value, and defending those decisions before the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board.

View our Rules and Appeal Form here.

Visit County GIS imagery at here.