Local taxpayer urges Cole County to contest state-ordered reassessments, cites timing and access concerns

Jeff Shafercutter, a Cole County taxpayer, told the Cole County Commission that the process used to raise residential property assessments this year was unfair and left many homeowners without a practical way to appeal.

Shafercutter said he was not familiar with the terms of a memorandum of understanding the State Tax Commission sent to the county and that his understanding of the timeline came from a newspaper article and meeting videos. "On July 30, the day before that, the state tax commission honored the Cole County Commission to enter into this reassessment process with the Board of Equalization," he said during public comment, summarizing the timeline he outlined to the commission.

He said the Board of Equalization's letters to taxpayers used the statutory payment-under-protest route as the appeal mechanism and that, practically, using that route means a taxpayer must file a circuit-court action and pay court and service fees. "The increased taxes on James and my property is gonna be about a $175 extra," he said, adding that paying court costs to contest that amount would be disproportionate.

Shafercutter also raised concerns about apparent geographic differences in how the reassessments were implemented. He told commissioners he initially believed the increases targeted the east side of the county, though a commissioner present clarified the county was divided into townships and that several specific townships had been designated for higher increases. Shafercutter said the assessor's MOU with the State Tax Commission reportedly identified selected townships (he cited numbers used by the BOE) for larger increases, while other townships had smaller increases or had been adjusted previously.

He pointed to specific dates in the sequence he described: July 31 as the statutory deadline for a board-of-equalization hearing; July 30 as the date the State Tax Commission authorized the county process; an August 12 commission agenda discussion; August 18 as the date he said the BOE had final totals; and August 26 as the date the county set tax rates after numbers were made available. He said his Board of Equalization letter arrived to him by mail on Sept. 2.

Shafercutter warned that the timing limited homeowners'practical ability to appeal and said the BOE letter did not mention the option of filing a complaint with the State Tax Commission. He said he will file a complaint with the State Tax Commission to exhaust administrative remedies and to preserve the ability to bring a later lawsuit if he chooses.

Commissioners and meeting participants discussed whether the reassessments were limited to an "east side" area; a commissioner said that characterization was inaccurate because the county is divided into numbered townships and the BOE order listed specific township numbers. Commissioners and staff also discussed the assessor's prior work, sales-ratio studies and the difficulty of producing sales-comparison data for appraisals.

Shafercutter recommended that the county reconvene the Board of Equalization, reconsider the State Tax Commission's order, and avoid participating in a county-level lawsuit the State Tax Commission had prompted in other counties. He said he believed the state body had overreached. "Stand up to the bullies wherever they are, including at the state level, and then let the assessor do his job," he told the commission.

Shafercutter acknowledged he has limited hope the State Tax Commission will overturn complaints it ordered, but said he would file an administrative complaint "for one purpose and one purpose only"'to preserve legal options. He added that he and his wife intend to pay the taxes while pursuing administrative remedies.

Ending: Commissioners did not take formal action during the meeting on the State Tax Commission order. Shafercutter said he would file the administrative complaint that day. The commission and staff discussed providing the BOE order and supporting documents to commissioners to clarify which townships were affected and why.