Vacant property along busy North Avenue in Glendale Heights, which is zoned for a mix of commercial and residential use, will be assessed as farmland for at least another year, a DuPage County appeals board has ruled.
The county’s Board of Review rejected the findings of Milton Township Assessor Jim Gumm, who had proposed to place a significantly higher value on the property. Gumm argued before the review board that only a small portion of the 55-acre site was being farmed.
He has contended since taking office last year that the real-estate tax breaks allowed under a nearly 20-year-old Illinois law intended to benefit farmers are not applicable in highly suburbanized areas such as Milton Township in central DuPage.
Though some of the roughly 1,100 farm parcels remaining in the county are family-owned or are farm remnants, the Tribune reported in January that much of the acreage appears to be in the hands of developers and land speculators who are using the law to lower their tax bills.
Gumm sought to pull the farmland assessment last year from all but about 4.25 acres of property in Glendale Heights that is owned by Hartz Construction Co., a Palos Hills-based home builder and developer.
Hartz filed an appeal in October with the Board of Review, which resolves disputes over property assessments.
The board’s decision in favor of Hartz likely will result in substantial real-estate tax savings for the company. The ruling reduces the assessed value of the land to roughly $133,000 from the nearly $730,000 that had been proposed by Gumm.
The real estate taxes that will be collected this year by municipalities, school districts and other government agencies are computed based on a property’s assessed value.
Notice of the review board’s decision was mailed this week to the parties.
State law provides that farmland is to be assessed for real estate tax purposes based on its agricultural value, which generally is much lower than the property’s market value in DuPage and other Chicago-area counties.
Under the state formula, the average value placed on farmland in DuPage was only $214 an acre in 1997, although vacant property in the county may sell at prices of $100,000 an acre or more.
At a Board of Review hearing in December, a farmer indicated that Hartz paid him $250 an acre, or about $11,000 a year, to plant and harvest crops on the land, which sits between North Avenue and Poss Street in Milton Township.
Robert Brackmann, of rural St. Charles, testified on behalf of Hartz that he had planted winter wheat on most of the property in 1997 and again last fall.
Hartz had a similar financial arrangement in previous years with former DuPage County Board member John Case (R-Naperville).
James A. Hullihan, a lawyer representing Hartz at the hearing, said the company believed it met the requirements of state law.
The review board agreed with Hartz and, with little explanation, restored the farmland classification for most of the property.
Gumm had not disputed that a 4.25-acre portion of the property was being farmed.
Gumm said he was disappointed by the decision, but added that “the only thing I can do is bring this to the attention of the people I work for–the residents of Milton Township.”
