Kendall County Times

Retired firefighter and businessman Guy D'Amico and his wife Kathleen are the original owners of 2545 Lambert Drive, which was built by Ryland Homes in Aurora's Amber Fields Estates subdivision.

Just under 3,000 square feet with four bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths, the home cost the D'Amicos $290,500 in 2004, or $386,685 in today's dollars, according to Blockshopper.com.

Zillow reports that the home sold on Feb. 13 for $285,000, or a loss of $101,685. 

During the 15 years that the D'Amicos owned the home, they paid $119,365 in property taxes, for an effective tax rate of 41.88 percent.

Homeowners in the Kendall County side of Aurora, Montgomery and Plano saw the highest effective tax rates in the area during the second part of 2018, according to an analysis by Local Government Services (LGIS), which publishes the Kendall County Times.

The effective property tax rate, or the percentage of your home’s value that you pay in property taxes each year, averages 2.31 percent in Illinois, three times the 0.87 percent tax rate in neighboring Indiana, according to WalletHub.com.

Across the nation, the average tax rate is 1.3 percent.

Of the 13 Kendall County communities surveyed by LGIS, 10 have effective property tax rates higher than the state average. Aurora topped the list with a 3.31 percent tax rate, Montgomery was second at 3.08 percent and Plano came in third at 3.03 percent.

For the D'Amicos, their property taxes jumped from $2,851 in 2004 to $9,914 last year, or a 160 percent increase (inflation adjusted). 

A 40.11 percent effective property rate

After moving from a former model home in the Oakhurst subdivision in Aurora, Anthony D. and Mirtelina Berry bought their three-bedroom, four-bath Plano home in 2002 for $362,000, or $503,036 in today's dollars. 

They sold the home at 2626 Rock Creek Road on March 10 for $365,000, or a loss of $138,036. Their taxes over 17 years were $146,406 for an effective property tax rate of 40.11 percent. 

They fared better than the D'Amicos, however, in that their property taxes only jumped from $7,193 ($10,073 in 2018 dollars) the first year they owned it to $10,207 last year, a 1.33 percent increase.

In Montgomery, 3039 Secretariat Lane was built by the same builder as the D'Amicos' home and is comparable in size. Its original owner paid $295,000 in 2005, according to Blockshopper. 

Josie Degner and Jonathan King were able to purchase the home two years later for $282,000, or $342,127 in today's dollars. Zillow shows they sold the home earlier this month for $272,900, or $69,227 less than their purchase price, inflation adjusted. 

Their property taxes over the dozen years they owned the home were $89,232, or an effective tax rate of 32.70 percent. 

Just 90 minutes away, an almost identical size home in Crown Point, Indiana that was also built in 2005 sold for $242,000 in December, according to Zillow. The home's property taxes dating back to 2005 according to public records, were a mere $21,952. 

---

Kendall County Effective Property Tax Rates July 1-Dec. 31, 2018

Community	Effective Tax Rate	Median Tax Bill	Median Sale Price
Aurora	3.31%	$8,184	$247,000
Montgomery	3.08%	$6,711	$218,000
Plano	3.03%	$4,817	$159,000
Yorkville	2.98%	$6,818	$228,750
Newark	2.96%	$5,305	$179,000
Oswego	2.96%	$7,074	$239,000
Plainfield	2.78%	$11,056	$397,000
Minooka	2.55%	$6,129	$240,000
Joliet	2.52%	$6,043	$240,000
Boulder Hill	2.49%	$4,300	$173,000
Lisbon	2.05%	$3,348	$163,000
Millbrook	1.96%	$5,910	$302,000
Bristol	1.27%	$5,404	$425,000