[APRIL 11, 2006]
A number of Lincoln City Council members joined
several citizens, Logan County's executive and economic development
committee, and the geographic information system committee for a
presentation of the county's current phase of GIS development. The
GIS committee is recommending Bruce Harris & Associates of Batavia
to perform the second phase of GIS: parcel mapping.
Representatives of the Bruce Harris company were on hand to
demonstrate the pilot project they did on a portion of Logan County
and to explain how the system works. Before they began, another
guest speaker, Jason LeMar, Menard County's supervisor of
assessments, explained the factor that has been the driving force
behind Illinois counties developing GIS.
The Illinois Department
of Revenue has mandated that all Illinois counties update their
maps, using orthophotography to specs, and integrate parcel mapping,
land-use and farmland assessment data.
The Department of Revenue also issued a new manner of assessing
farmland values. Counties have used guidelines found in Bulletin
1156 for 20 years but must implement Bulletin 810 by the end of
2006.
A number of factors go into assessing farmland. Soil type is a
primary consideration. Assessment regulations factor in whether the
land is cropland, pasture, other, timber, home, wasteland,
miscellaneous or unfarmable areas, such as roadways. The assessment
also allows for slope, erosion, flooding or if a property is in a
drainage district contributing for the good of all in the area.
The new bulletin puts the county in the uneasy position of not
knowing how much property tax revenue to anticipate for this year.
It does away with what was commonly referred to as a 10 percent tax
cap. So, some farm parcels could exceed the 10 percent decrease in
value.
Finance chairman Chuck Ruben asked if this might mean that the
county property revenues will be low. The overall trend in Illinois
has been slightly downward for years, and that's what all counties
should expect, LeMar said. He didn't think it would be drastic in
the bottom line.
The individual farm owners may see greater increases or decreases
in their assessment.
The new mapping may show properties that somehow fell off the
taxing records. LeMar gave an example from Menard County, where a
creek was diverted and the property that became usable did not get
on the tax roll.
The new maps could also raise some issues about property lines,
in which case the property owners would need to get a legal survey
done to resolve any disputes, he said.
In total, farmers might see lower farmland assessments, and the
county might see property tax revenues decrease. This could be
affected by whether properties that have been developed as
residences were once farmland and continued to be taxed as farmland.
There is also some movement in Illinois to tax some timberland as
recreational when the proper documentation is provided that merits
it as recreational rather than farmland. Logan County at present may
not find as much of that as some other counties.
The new and more accurate maps also integrate elevation changes,
which could redefine the locations of flood plains. County
coordinator Dewey Colter said that he is encountering a lot of
requests for building permits that are on a flood plain. This is an
area of code enforcement that planning and zoning will need to
address, along with the GIS and the comprehensive plan.
County engineer Bret Aukamp, who is overseeing the GIS
development, thanked the GIS subcommittee members who were present
for all their hard work: Dewey Colter, Mark Mathon, Rob Orr,
Rochelle Parr and Sally Litterly.
