Illinois Legislature Paves Way for More Chicago Property Tax Hikes

Right before the start of the long 4th of July weekend, the Illinois Legislature passed and Governor Bruce Rauner signed into law a stopgap budget that provides a year of funding for the state’s public elementary and secondary schools and six months of financing for higher education, social service agencies, state operations and capital projects.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the clear winner in the deal, will receive $100 million of a $250 million statewide poverty grant targeted to low-income school districts. Who will pay for this? If you own a home in Cook County, it’s you and the only relief you have is to appeal your property taxes.

Another Chicago Property Tax Hike

Although CPS educators and parents may be breathing a temporary sigh of relief, the deal also allows Chicago to raise property taxes—again. Any future hikes would come on top of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $588 million property tax increase approved by the Chicago City Council last fall, which is being phased in over a four-year period and which are now being reflected in property tax bills that have just been received throughout Cook County – to much outrage.

The Only Way to Minimize Your Property Tax Burden

With the August 1, 2016 deadline for paying the second installment of your 2015 Cook County property taxes fast approaching, the time is now to consider what you can do to minimize your tax burden. First, make sure that you take advantage of any exemptions available to you.

If you feel you are paying too much in property taxes, don’t be discouraged. You can appeal. But unless you are experienced in the process, and have access to property analysis tools, you may be leaving money on the table. If not, leave your appeal in the hands of our experts at Kensington Research and Recovery.

During our more than 15 years in business in Chicago, we’ve saved more than 10,000 residential homeowners and commercial clients millions of dollars in property taxes due to inequitable over-assessments, and our success rate is over 90%.

Contact Kensington to get your free Cook County property tax appeal savings estimate today