It is recommended that prior to filing a complaint the property owner discuss his assessment with the Township Assessor. Explanation of the assessment procedures may eliminate the need to file a complaint. However, if a complaint is to be filed on a residence, lot, commercial, or industrial property, the following procedures must be followed.

1. All complaints must be filed with the Whiteside County Board of Review, 200 East Knox Street, Morrison, Illinois 61270 by August 10th, or within 30 days after mailing of assessment notices or 30 days after publication of the assessment changes, whichever is later. Complaints filed by mail must be postmarked on or before the filing deadline.
2. All complaints shall be in writing on the Whiteside County Board of Review Assessment Appeal form. These forms are available in the Whiteside county CCAO (Supervisor of Assessments) office.
3. A separate complaint must be filed for each separately assessed parcel.
4. The complaint form must be completed prior to filing. If evidence in support of appellant's claim is not furnished in, or submitted with the complaint, the complaint will not be accepted and will be returned to the appellant.
5. The complaint must be signed by the owner of the subject property or by an attorney in an attorney-client relationship with the property owner. If the property is owned by a corporation or a partnership, any officer of the corporation or general partner of the partnership may sign the complaint.
6. In order for the Board of Review to act upon any complaint and to insure the appellant is receiving a fair and equal assessment, the appellant must prove that 1) the market value assigned to the property is in error, or 2) the assessment on his property is higher than the assessment of similar properties in his area. Market value may be indicated by a recent sale of the subject property, recent sales of comparable property, or an appraisal.

B. If the complaint is based upon the assessed valuation of the subject property, the appellant must complete the section of the appeal form entitled "ASSESSED VALUATION SECTION" by furnishing a minimum of three comparable properties of the same or similar size, age, and condition together with the assessed value of each comparable property.

• On all income producing properties, current operating statements, audits, and all pertinent information related to the subject shall be provided to the Board of Review along with the complaint form.

On farmland and farm building complaints, the following must be submitted.

1. In order for the Board of Review to act upon any complaint relating to soil types as determined in the soil survey performed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an Order 2 soil survey must be submitted with the appeal. The entire parcel will be evaluated in such an assessment appeal.
2. If the complaint is based upon flooding by a river or stream, a ten (10) year history of the flooding, photographs of the flooded areas, and an ASCS aerial for each of the years flooding occurs must be submitted. The ASCS aerial must have the flooded areas highlighted. The number of crop land acres lost or affected must be noted on each parcel.
3. Complaints based upon land use classification must be accompanied by a current ASCS aerial detailing the acreage of tillable land, permanent pasture, other farmland, and/or wasteland.
4. Complaints based upon the valuation of farm buildings must be accompanied by a recent sale settlement, sales of comparable properties, assessments of comparable properties, or recent construction costs.