The Equalization Department assists the County Board of Commissioner sin equalizing real and personal property on a County-wide basis. To comply with State directives, the Department conducts annual sales and appraisal studies for all classes of real property. Audits and record verification’s are conducted for personal property. These studies are used to equalize assessed values for each class of real and personal property in the fifteen local units of government within Lake County. The department also furnishes assistance to the local assessing officers in the performance of their duties. Some of those duties include the development and maintenance of accurate property descriptions; the discovery, listing and valuation of properties for tax purposes; and the development and use of valuation standards and techniques for the assessment of property.

The Geographic Information System (GIS) was established in 1996 and has been an integral part of the County-wide tax mapping handled by the Equalization Department. In 1987, Lake County went to a permanent parcel numbering system. Since that time, the GIS Department is charged with the responsibility of assigning permanent parcel numbers, maintaining property descriptions and updating all mapping layers for the 27,000 parcels of real property in Lake County. The Department assists local assessing officers and taxpayers in the development and maintenance of property descriptions.