Error Leaves Some Thornton, Proviso Homeowners Waiting for COVID Adjustments

Some homeowners in Thornton and Proviso Townships will have to wait a little longer to learn how next year’s property tax bill will be impacted by the Cook County Assessor’s adjustment for COVID-19 hardships.

That’s because a processing error left some properties out when the office was applying COVID adjustments to the property tax assessment in those townships, according to a press release. The error does not affect this year’s tax bill because the adjustments will be factored in assessed values used to calculate next year’s property tax bills.

The adjustments – a reduction of between 8.7% and 14.4% in assessed value in Thornton and between 8.4% and 15.2% in Proviso – will be applied to the assessed values of those homes after the appeals process has concluded, the release says. In all, the assessor’s office has identified 23,332 properties in Thornton and 23,828 properties in Proviso that are eligible for the COVID adjustment, which was calculated using census data and industry-specific unemployment.

The press release does not say how many of the eligible properties were left out by the processing error, but includes a button you can use to enter your property identification number to determine if your property was affected. Thornton is the largest township in Cook County’s south suburbs.

Move Quickly to Appeal Your Assessment in Thornton Township

There is still time to file an appeal of assessed value of your home in Thornton and Proviso but you must move quickly to ensure that you are not paying too much in property taxes.

The deadline for filing an appeal in Thornton Township is Friday, Sept. 25. Homeowners in Proviso Township have until Oct. 5. To find out how much you may be able to save with an appeal, click on the link below or give us a call immediately and we will provide you with a free, no obligation estimate of your potential savings. Click here to find your township.

While you do not need to file an appeal to be eligible for a COVID adjustment, the adjustment is an additional reduction that will be applied in addition to any reduction you receive in the normal appeal process – which ensures that your property is evaluated on a very specific basis, using the most relevant comparable properties as a baseline.

Relying on the official assessment may leave you paying too much. Even in the best of times getting assessments right is a difficult and error-prone process. Mistakes can happen and while the county does its best to correct errors – the Board of Review is currently working to take “corrective actions” for properties in Riverside, River Forest and Oak Park, for example – the only way to be sure that you are not paying too much is to appeal your assessment every year.

We can help. Our clients often save thousands of dollars, and pay nothing unless we are able to help them achieve a reduction.

Don’t wait. Click on the link below to get started.

Get Your Free Property Tax Reduction Estimate