Ellen Bruchsaler, CIAO
Township Assessor
815-648-4536
5211 Miller Rd., Wonder Lake, IL 60097
Office Hours
Monday – Friday 8:00am – 4:00pm. Please call before stopping in to ensure we can assist you in a timely manner.
Township Office
Assessor's Office
The Greenwood Township Assessor's Office discovers, lists, and determines the fair cash value of property within the township.
New for 2026!
Assessment Notices Will Be Posted Online in 2026
Starting this year, the Supervisor of Assessments (SOA) will not be mailing assessment notices for properties that are only adjusted by the equalization factor. Notices will still be mailed for revaluations, farmland, and new properties.
Free assessment notices are available online at mchenryil.devnetwedge.com. Sign up to be alerted when your assessment is posted at mchenrycountyil.gov/assessmentalerts.
The McHenry County Board made this change to save taxpayers over $65,000 in postage costs.
What it Means to be an Assessor
Assessors, like all other elected officials, have been elected to represent the interests of their constituency. Holding a public office means maintaining the public trust. When a township's constituency elects an individual to be the assessor, they believe that person will establish a system of property valuation that will fairly, impartially, and equitably distribute the revenue requirements of local governments among the township residents.
Two Fundamental Duties of the Assessor
The township assessor is responsible for discovering, listing, and determining the fair cash value of most property within the assessment jurisdiction and assessing said property at the statutory percentage of value.
- Determining market value. All property is valued and assessed as of January 1 of the tax year.
- Assessing like property in a like manner – uniformity. Establishing equitable assessments among like properties is an extremely important aspect of the assessor's duties because equitable assessments assure that all township residents are afforded their constitutional right to equal treatment and equal taxation under the law.
Purpose of the Assessment
The purpose of the assessed valuation is to apportion the tax burden, as created by the taxing bodies (schools, counties, municipalities, townships) over all real estate according to its fair cash value.
How Property Taxes Are Determined
There are two major components of the tax system: Valuation and Taxation.
Valuation: The assessment office establishes the full market value of the properties in the township. The assessment is one-third of full market value per Illinois Statutes.
Taxation: Taxes are the result of the monies needed to operate each unit of government shown on your tax bill (county, cities, township, school districts, fire protection districts, library districts, etc.). These units of government levy their needed monies by certification to the County Clerk toward the end of each calendar year. These levy amounts are converted to a tax rate based on the amount of taxable assessed value within the respective taxing district.
Tax Rate Formula
- Equalized Assessed Value (EAV) minus Exemptions = Taxable EAV
- Levy amount divided by Taxable EAV = Tax Rate
People accepted increasing property values and taxes when the market was good. As the real estate market shows a decrease it would be logical to think taxes would decrease as well. This is not necessarily true. The taxes will not decrease until the levy amounts decrease as well. It is true that an assessment reduction does not necessarily equate to a reduction of the real estate taxes unless the respective units of government reduce the amount of monies needed to operate.