Townships, and why yours matters more than you think
The township is the unit of assessment, the unit of the reassessment cycle, and the unit of your deadline.
Most of Illinois is organised into townships, and for property tax purposes the township is the operative unit.
What happens at township level
- The township assessor sets original values for parcels within it.
- The quadrennial reassessment happens township by township.
- The assessment list is published by township — which starts your appeal clock.
- Comparable properties are usually drawn from within it.
Why deadlines differ within one county
Because publication is by township. Two owners in the same county can have appeal windows weeks apart. Asking "what is the deadline in this county" gets you an unreliable answer; ask for your township.
Commission counties
A minority of Illinois counties have no townships. There the county Supervisor of Assessments performs the assessing directly.
Multi-township districts
Smaller townships may combine into a multi-township assessment district sharing one assessor. The assessment unit is still the township for cycle and publication purposes.
Finding yours
It is on your assessment notice and your county's parcel page, and it is the first thing to know before looking for anything else.