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Government

Friendship Manor Tax Dispute

Rock Island County

Despite the frigid weather, some elderly residents of Rock Island are climbing on buses  to visit the office of the county assessor. Thursday and Friday, 58 residents of Friendship Manor are applying for this year's senior homestead exemption - that would save them 500 dollars on their 2017 taxes.

Development Director, Jeff Condit, says the question is can you qualify as long as you apply by the end of the year for the 2017 exemption. The county assessor says the deadline for 2017 passed 9 months ago. But the Friendship Manor residents are applying in person this week just in case the assessor is wrong. 

"The chief assessor does have the authority to determine the means by which he verifies those who qualify. He chose the most inhumane method, given the time of year, and the most cumbersome and burdensome and he never required that before."

Condit says up until three years ago, Friendship Manor residents did not have to apply in person - staff would list their names and send it to the assessor. But then the county started requiring in-person applications.

 And they were recently told the deadline for receiving the 2017 exemption was last March.

County Assessor Larry Wilson is not in the office this week, and a spokesman says the office is accepting applications for the 2018 senior homestead exemption, through next summer. And you have to apply in person.  

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.