By Andi Anderson
Livingston County has announced the final property assessment equalization factor for 2025, with the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) issuing a multiplier of 1.0000.
This factor is used to ensure consistent and fair property assessments across all Illinois counties. Equalization plays an important role in maintaining uniformity, especially because many of the state’s 6,600 local taxing districts extend across county borders, such as school districts, fire protection districts, and junior college districts.
The equalization factor is part of a system established under a 1975 state law. According to this law, most property in Illinois must be assessed at one‑third of its market value. Farmland is assessed differently.
While farm homesites and dwellings follow regular assessment rules, farmland itself is assessed at one‑third of its agricultural economic value and is not affected by the state equalization factor. In Livingston County, assessments currently reflect 33.32% of market value, based on property sales from 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Because this assessment level aligns closely with the one‑third requirement, the equalization factor remains at 1.0000. The same factor was assigned to the county last year.
The newly issued factor applies to 2025 taxes, which will be payable in 2026. Before finalization, a tentative factor of 1.0000 was announced on October 30, 2025, and a public hearing was held to review it.
The final factor was confirmed after comparing three years of property sales to the values assigned by the county assessor. The purpose of equalization is not to increase or decrease total property tax bills.
Instead, it ensures fairness in how the tax burden is divided. Actual tax bills depend on how much money local taxing districts request to operate schools, emergency services and other public programs.
If a district does not ask for more funds than the previous year, total taxes will not rise even when assessments change. While the multiplier helps maintain statewide uniformity, it does not alter the portion of taxes owed by individual property owners.
Each taxpayer’s share of the local tax burden is determined by the assessed value of their own property, not by the equalization factor itself.
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Categories: Illinois, Government & Policy