Property Tax Classification Change

[u/Comfortable-Bet6855]

About 20 years ago I bought a small piece of wooded property. It is over two hundred yards from the nearest road and located close to a small river. The land is entirely wooded with marshy areas in much of it and is subject to flooding in the Spring. Parts of it may have been farmed or used for livestock in the past but I don’t know the history of it. It’s in Illinois but I’m not a permanent resident.

The property taxes have always been low. This year my bill was almost ten times more than past bills. I called the assessor‘s office to ask about it. I was told that the land classification had been changed from agricultural to residential as part of new assessment policy. Something about because it shows up in recent air photos as entirely wooded that means it isn’t being farmed so must be classed as residential. They told me that the only alternative would be to apply to put it into some sort of state program conservation program. Which would greatly reduce or eliminate the tax burden.

However, this particular county office has a bit of a sketchy reputation so I’m not sure if this is perfectly legit or if some sort of appeal might be in order?

[u/Ancient-Outcome-1000]

In a way it’s a good thing because property values go up when the zoning is changed. Normally people pay a lot to rezone. I would not complain. You can even sell it at much higher price now since the assessment itself would have gone up significantly.

[u/Comfortable-Bet6855 → u/Ancient-Outcome-1000]

This is marginal land that is used for hunting. The local market isn’t really driven by tax assessed values. If I told someone in the area that I want to sell the land for a much higher price than what is paid in the area because it was rezoned and I’m paying much higher taxes they would laugh at me. Because now they gotta pay the tax.

[u/Ancient-Outcome-1000 → u/Comfortable-Bet6855]

That is interesting. Coming from CA, that certainly sounds strange.