The Chicago Tribune has the best article I have ever read on real estate tax assessments.
Written by Jason Grotto with help from John Chase and David Kidwell, it proves the utter lack of assessment uniformity among homeowners in Cook County.
While my color blind impaired eyes wish the Tribune graphic had some blue, it shows the inequity in Cook County:
2015 assessment levels for homes and small apartments in Cook County.
The article documents “a staggering pattern of inequality.
“From North Lawndale and Little Village to Calumet City and Melrose Park, residents in working-class neighborhoods were more likely to receive property tax bills that assumed their homes were worth more than their true market value, the Tribune found.
“Meanwhile, many living in the county’s wealthier and mostly white communities — including Winnetka, Glencoe, Lakeview and the Gold Coast — caught a break because property taxes weren’t based on the full value of their homes.”
The article is very long (almost 3,000 words), it is chock full of useful information.
I only wish similar articles would be written on the collar counties.
Good point on a comprehensive article for collar counties.
I’ve noticed the “look what $1m will get you in Crystal Lake, Bull Valley Woodstock etc” promotions of large homes by the NW Herald Online.
Curiously missing is the Yearly Tax bill.
I Can just imagine if assessed correctly that besides 8 baths and an indoor pool, that Million dollar home also features a $40,000 yearly tax bill.
Excellent article. Berrios rebuttal included.
Nothing illustrates this inequitable distribution of tax burden better than Gubernatorial candidate Pritzker getting an 85% assessment reduction on his adjacent $6 million mansion, reportedly due to unhooking toilets.
I can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t be willing to access that loophole, if only Berrios would explain precisely what a homeowner needs to do to have a property deemed uninhabitable and thus assessed 85% lower.
Not everyone has access to inner-circle law firms.
Correlate these areas to the demographics.
Big surprise!
HA!!!
It’s horrid but not surprising.
The poor or working class don’t have the resources to properly appeal, while others do.
This whole process needs to be reworked, but how does it even start?
The two most powerful politicians in IL have law firms that feed off this assessment chaos.
They are fine with how the system works.
Why no mention of Franks effort to consolidate the Recorders’ office into the Clerk? Or consolidate sanitation districts in Lake in the Hills?
C’mon Cal.
The idea of consolidating County Recorder with County Clerk in order to save taxpayers the salary of that figurehead Office ORIGINATED WITH JOE TIRIO.
Joe Tirio ran on that platform, and his candidacy website was: iwonthiremywife.com
It is distasteful to hitch Franks onto the Tirio bandwagon, given the two men have polar opposite views on the acceptability of patronage hiring.
He didn’t send me his press release.
It is clearly Joe Tirio’s idea, not Jack Franks’.
Take a look at the book – “Dream Hoarders” the basic concept supports what was presented in the Tribune article.