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Blog · Basics · 2026-08-05 · 2 min read

Who actually set your value: township assessor, Supervisor of Assessments, or Board of Review

Three offices, three different jobs. Sending your argument to the wrong one wastes the only window you get.

Illinois splits assessment across offices, and owners routinely address the wrong one.

The township assessor

Sets the original value for parcels in that township. This is who to talk to first and informally. If the record has your building size wrong, the assessor can often simply fix it — no hearing, no filing, no deadline pressure. A large share of successful outcomes never become appeals at all.

The county Supervisor of Assessments

Oversees the township assessors, applies county-wide changes, maintains the roll, and publishes assessments. In counties without township assessors, this office does the assessing. It is also the office to FOIA if you want the roll as an electronic file.

The Board of Review

An independent body that hears formal appeals. It can lower, sustain — or raise — an assessment. It is not the assessor and does not work for the assessor.

The order that works

Call the township assessor with a factual error. File with the Board of Review when you disagree about value or uniformity, or when the assessor will not correct the record. Going straight to the board with something the assessor would have fixed in a phone call is slower and riskier — because the board can review the whole assessment, not just the part you complained about.

Beyond the board sits the Property Tax Appeal Board, and beyond that the circuit court.

This is general information about how Illinois assessments and appeals work. It is not legal advice, not an appraisal, and not a prediction about your case. Deadlines and rules differ by county — check yours with your Board of Review.

Check your own assessment free →

More on Basics

What an assessed value actually is It is not a fact the county issued. It is an opinion produced by a model, and opinions can be wrong.Assessed value, market value, fair cash value: three different numbers They are related by a ratio set in statute, and confusing them is the most common reason an appeal goes nowhere.The 33⅓% rule, and the counties it does not apply to Illinois assesses at one third of fair cash value — except in Cook County, and except for farmland.The equalization factor, and why your assessment changed without anyone visiting The state multiplier adjusts a whole county at once. It is not a reassessment, and it is not appealable.

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