Freedom of Information Act Policy

Record Requests The FOIA Officer for both bodies is the Supervisor of Assessments/Clerk of the Board of Review. Records requested under the Freedom of Information Act shall be made in writing to the Supervisor/Clerk of the Board at 719 South Batavia Avenue, Building C, Geneva, Illinois 60134-3000. If the request is for a commercial purpose as defined in 5 ILCS 20/2(c-10), the requestor must state in the request that the records will be used for a commercial purpose. The requestor will be notified as soon as the documents are available for inspection and/or copying.

Fees There shall be no fee to inspect records. Pursuant to statute, copying charges shall be “35 cents per page of legal size or smaller and $1 for each larger page.” (35 ILCS 200/14-30) Payment is due at the time the documents are provided. Information may be sent by U.S. Mail if prepaid. Pursuant to 35 ILCS 200/12-5, a statement of valuation shall be provided to taxpayers for their own property(s) at no charge. In accordance with 5 ILCS 140/6c, fees may be reduced or waived entirely upon a written request that includes the specific purpose of the request (including whether the data will be used for any commercial purpose) and the public interest that would be served. The Supervisor of Assessments/Clerk of the Board has sole discretion to act in this area, and may request additional information in order to make a determination. Pursuant to Kane County Board Resolution 93-352, Custom reports of tax parcel data stored in county databases is available for $0.10 per parcel (minimum $20.00).

Records Maintained The Supervisor of Assessments/Board of Review maintains the following types and categories of records. Please note that this list may include records that are partially or wholly exempt from disclosure under FOIA (5 ILCS 140/7, et seq.):

Electronic copies of entire electronic databases will not be made available if the database contains information that is exempt from disclosure. (5 ILCS 140/7, et seq.) Information stored in these databases is made available to persons “lacking knowledge of computer language or printout format” in one of three ways:

The records may be accessed, reviewed, and printed at www.KaneCountyAssessments.org; there is no charge for accessing this data. The records may be viewed at the Board of Review Office during normal business hours; paper copies of the records are available for the fees noted above. A report can be created containing specific data from the database, exported into a .txt or .xls file, and saved onto a compact disk; the appropriate charge for creating this custom report will apply.

About the Public Body The following information about the Supervisor of Assessments and Board of Review is provided pursuant to 5 ILCS 140/4, et seq.:

Purpose The Supervisor of Assessments coordinates the countywide assessment process. Duties required under the Illinois Property Tax Code (35 ILCS 200) include:

Assembling township assessors for instruction on the assessment process (9-15) Preparing and maintaining tax maps and parcel ownership information (9-35) Receiving and analyzing township assessment rolls (9-230, et seq.) Equalizing assessments within the county or any area therein (9-210) Applying various exemptions to homestead properties (15-165, et seq.) Publishing the assessment roll for each township (12-10) Providing mailed notice to owners of property with revised assessments (12-30) Certifying assessment roll to the Board of Review (9-245) Reporting statistical abstracts to the Illinois Department of Revenue (17-15) Serving as Clerk of the Board of Review (3-30)

Kane County Board of Review hears assessment complaints made under the Illinois Property Tax Code (35 ILCS 200). Its duties include:

Convening on or before the first Monday in June of the assessment year (16-30) Adopting and publishing rules and procedures (9-5) Hearing complaints and correcting assessments for the current assessment year as appears to be just (16-55) Reviewing and ruling on applications for exemptions (16-70) Issuing certificates of error for the prior assessment year until judgment (16-75) Certifying the assessment roll to the County Clerk (16-85, et seq.) Adjourning by March 15 of the year following the assessment year (16-35)

Functional Subdivisions Neither the Supervisor of Assessments nor the Board of Review have functional subdivisions.

Operating Budget The FY2010 Operating Budgets are $1,078,147 for the Supervisor of Assessments and $128,716 for the Board of Review.

Offices The Supervisor of Assessments and Board of Review share one office, which is located in the Kane County Government Center complex at 719 South Batavia Avenue, Building C, Geneva, Illinois 60134-3000.

Employees The Supervisor of Assessments is appointed by the Chairman of the Kane County Board with the advice and consent of the County Board. (35 ILCS 200/3-5) The Supervisor of Assessments has 18 full-time positions, no part-time positions, and four seasonal positions. The Board of Review consists of three full members appointed by the Chairman of the Kane County Board with the advice and consent of the County Board. (35 ILCS 200/6-5). There are 12 additional members as appointed by the Chairman of the Kane County Board. (35 ILCS 200/6-25) The administrative functions of the Board are discharged by the Kane County Supervisor of Assessments, who shall act as the Clerk of the Board. (35 ILCS 200/3-30)

Relationship to Other Bodies Pursuant to 35 ILCS 200/10-120, the Kane County Farmland Assessment Review Committee operates in an advisory capacity to the Supervisor of Assessments. Except for reports to the Kane County Board of Review and to the Illinois Department of Revenue as required by the Illinois Property Tax Code, there is no board, commission, committee, or council to which the Supervisor of Assessments is required to report and be answerable for its operations. No board, commission, committee, or council operates in an advisory capacity relative to the operation of the Board of Review. No board, commission, committee, or council exercises control over the Board of Review’s policies. Except for reports to the County Clerk and to the Illinois Department of Revenue as required by the Illinois Property Tax Code, there is no board, commission, committee, or council to which the Board of Review is required to report and be answerable for its operations.

Severability In the event any section, provision, or term of this policy is determined by a court or other authority of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, that determination shall not affect the remaining sections or provisions, which shall continue in full force and effect. For this purpose, the provisions of this policy are severable.

Amendments This policy may be amended from time-to-time; said amendments are effective upon their being conspicuously posted and prominently displayed at the Supervisor of Assessments/Board of Review Office.