Expect a long wait at the Illinois Property Tax Appeals Board

The Illinois Property Tax Appeals Board is short-staffed, and as a result nearly 87,500 Illinois real estate tax payers have a long wait ahead of them.  One of the auditors estimated two years to process the pending cases.

In 2012 alone, 42,871 appeals were filed, nearly a 36% increase over 2011, and a whopping 226% increase since 2002, when the agency had twice as much staff as it does now.  Back then, applications were fewer, and despite the larger staff, it still took a while to process files, though not as long as it does now. 

The state legislature has set aside more funds to increase the staff at the appeals board, but even so, the staff won’t reach 2002 levels. 

So if your tax appeal is not getting processed, it’s probably sitting in a pile somewhere with 42,000 other tax appeals in the same boat.  It will get processed eventually, so sit tight.