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Lake County Opens Searchable Property Tax Database

The Lake County website is showing clear signs of improvement. In recent months the county has started posting commission agendae and minutes (though five days after oaths, their webmaster still needs to update the commission chair and members). The county has also posted in text-searchable PDF glory the updated 137-page zoning ordinance that may be referred to a public vote this week.

But now the big enchilada: Lake County has posted online a searchable database of the assessed value and taxes due on every property in the county. Go to the Treasurer's page, click on the Property Tax Information tab, and you're into everybody's business.

I can double-check the paper notice treasurer Linda Fischer sent me this week and confirm that I owe $1735.88 this year on my $137,200 property. I also discover that my brother pays a comparable amount, $1711.46, on a house in town assessed at $87,200 (how's that for a happy birthday message?).

The database is sortable, so you can get lists of the highest-value properties in the county and the highest-tax-paying properties. Which individual properties pay the most? Here's Lake County's "Fortune 40":

TaxPayer Name 2010 Value Amt Due
1 Gehl Power Products Inc $5,779,300.00 $140,590.42
2 Dakota Ethanol LLC $8,416,800.00 $138,841.82
3 Madison Farmers Elevator Co. $3,954,800.00 $96,206.58
4 Nextera Properties LLC $75,000.00 $36,621.20
5 Integra Plastic, Inc. $1,453,300.00 $35,354.66
6 Northwestern Energy Corp. $32,617.14
7 Heritage High, LLC $1,217,300.00 $29,612.76
8 MEG Madison LLC $1,082,000.00 $26,321.34
9 Basler, Norman A. $88,300.00 $25,604.26
10 Moriarty, Paul $1,029,500.00 $25,044.14
11 Heritage High Assisted Living $1,025,200.00 $24,939.58
12 Custom Touch Properties LLC $987,300.00 $24,016.62
13 Prostrollo Motor Company $979,700.00 $23,832.70
14 Sinclair Land & Cattle LLC $969,400.00 $23,582.10
15 Rustic Acres Hutterian Brthrn $2,150,500.00 $23,438.00
16 GGNSC Madison SD LLC #2743 $925,000.00 $22,502.06
17 Madison Hospitality, LLC $915,600.00 $22,273.30
18 Heartland Consumers Power Dist $20,704.58
19 Roemen Properties LLC $847,600.00 $20,619.12
20 Rosebud Manufacturing Co Inc $845,700.00 $20,572.88
21 Persona, Inc $817,400.00 $19,884.00
22 Gracevale Hutterian Brethren $1,679,200.00 $19,259.86
23 Madison Development Corp. $772,400.00 $18,789.74
24 Madison Partners Ltd Prtnrship $758,600.00 $18,454.14
25 Moriarty, Paul $701,900.00 $17,074.82
26 First Madison Bank $692,200.00 $16,838.36
27 Farmers Ag Center LLC $668,800.00 $16,270.52
28 Baron Investments, L.L.C. $655,100.00 $15,936.32
29 Madison Apartments $640,100.00 $15,571.42
30 Dan & Jerry's Holding Of $926,100.00 $15,068.24
31 Ramar, LLC $617,800.00 $15,028.38
32 Falcon Plastics, Inc. $590,100.00 $14,355.10
33 Lake Area Improvement Corporation $581,900.00 $14,155.50
34 Phillips, Gene LLC $581,400.00 $14,143.44
35 M & R Enterprises $554,700.00 $13,493.78
36 East River Electric Power Inc. $548,800.00 $13,350.44
37 Helena Chemical Company $547,800.00 $13,326.18
38 Rustic Acres Hutterian Brthrn $856,400.00 $13,294.46
39 Paragon Custom Homes Inc $357,300.00 $13,217.94
40 Rapid Air Corporation $538,400.00 $13,097.42

You can check the database and legal descriptions to see exactly where those properties are. (An improvement the tax database could use: an integrated map that would allow users to click on the arcane legal description and see it marked on a map.) Those top 40 properties contribute $1.12 million to the county coffers. Over half of that goes to the school district.

Now notice this list doesn't sum the taxes that a specific taxpayer pays on all the properties that taxpayer owns in the county. To find the total my dad pays on his far-flung rental empire or that eager reader Linda McIntyre and hubby Neal pay on their various ag holdings, I've got to search by name and add the numbers from separate properties manually. (No Export to Excel/PivotTable function! Nertz!)

All of the above taxpayers appear to be up on their taxes, with the exception of Paragon Custom Homes. Sort the full database by "Delinquent Taxes Msg," and you can see a list of folks with delinquent taxes, information you might want to check if you're shopping around for property.

This property tax database is a huge step forward for government openness in Lake County. This information has always been publicly available, but it could be obtained in only one place, the equalization office at the courthouse. You could send your lawyer or your realtor to the courthouse to get the information for you, but where's the fun in that? Now we all can check these numbers ourselves from the comfort of our homes.

Keep up the good Web work, Lake County!

2 Comments

  1. Erika Powell 2011.01.10

    Is there an error with #9? 28% seems awful high.

  2. caheidelberger Post author | 2011.01.10

    I checked: that valuation is correct for Basler's property, parcel #01000-10551-04215. It looks like the property taxes are $1600, but there's an additioanl special assessment of $24,000 included on the payment amount for the first half of the year. The propety cited appears to be a trailer court in Chester township. Sort by "Special assessment" and "Township, and you'll find a whole bunch of Chester Township properties with a special assessment. Perhaps that special assessment is for hookup to the new sewer the Brant Lake Sanitary District is putting in?

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