South Central Reporter

Macoupin County Board General Administrative Committee met July 30.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Members Present: Bernie Kiel, Aaron Stayton, Ross Adden, Leann Barr, Jim Ibberson, John Trevino, and Tony Wiggins

Members Absent:

Officials and Department Heads Present: Larry Schmidt, John Bresnan, L. Amber McGartland, and Pete Duncan

1. Call to Order

1.1 Roll Call

There were 7 members present, with Barr remote.

2. Agenda Items

2.1 Discussion of Property Tax Cycle

Kiel said there were having this meeting not to point fingers but to try and get a better understanding of the tax cycle process and how the offices worked together. This was called as there had been questions about the timeliness of tax bills coming out and the distributions. 

The tax cycle begins each year with township assessors, of which we do not have many of in the county, working from summer to summer examining properties and then submitting their work to the Supervisor of Assessments office in early fall. The Supervisor of Assessments office then processes the information, makes necessary adjustments, and publishes notices before having the Board of Review hear appeals. After the Board of Review finishes their work, they hand it off to the County Clerk's office. This typically happens in March or April. The Clerk does his extension work, which typically takes 4 to 6 weeks, at which point it is given to the Treasurer. The Treasurer's office needs approximately a month to prepare tax bills. The printing and mailing adds about another 10 days. From that, the first due date is typically in July and the second installment is due in September. Distributions begin to taxing bodies within 30 days after the first due date and finish within 30 days of the tax sale. The tax sale is scheduled following the statutory requirements of the last due date. 

There have been recent delays due to multiple factors including software conversion issues, staff turnovers and the lack of township assessors in the county. Each official or department head in the process however felt that going forward, there would not be any delays or issues in their part of the process as the software conversion is finished and new processes are in place. There are also statutory deadlines taxing bodies have that cannot move the cycle up too much from what the typical cycle is in Macoupin. The committee agreed that better communication with the Board, public, and local governments about the tax cycle status could help manage expectations in the future and avoid concerns. 

3. Adjournment 

3.1 Adjourn Meeting 

Motion by Ibberson, seconded by Stayton to adjourn at 5:46 pm. All in favor. Motion carried. 

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