Study: $2 Billion in Taxes Shifted as Result of Flawed Assessments

Cook County Property Tax Cost ShiftChicago property owners with homes whose values were over-assessed by the Cook County Assessors Office picked up the tab for homeowners with under-assessed homes, a new study suggests. And the tab? A whopping $2.2 billion between 2011 and 2015.

The study, conducted by the Municipal Finance Center at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public policy and reported by ProPublica Illinois, estimates that errors in the county’s tax assessment system led to the massive transfer of taxes onto hundreds of thousands of homeowners with the lowest-valued homes.
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Cook County Home & Land Assessments Increasing 17-25%+

Evanston Property Tax IncreasesSo far, three Cook County townships have been opened for property tax appeals that have been reassessed based on Cook County’s triennial assessment schedule: Evanston, New Trier and Barrington.

The median assessed values on homes (not on land – more on that later) has increased 17-25% in these three townships. That being the median, we’ve represented many homeowners from these townships that have seen 40% increases in assessed home values.
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Assessor Mails Palatine Assessment Notices

The Cook County Assessor has mailed Palatine Township assessment notices. Each year, regardless of where your township falls in the triennial cycle, you have a 30 day window to appeal your property’s assessment at the Assessor’s office. That window for Palatine is now open and the deadline to file a 2017 appeal is Monday, May 1st.Cook County Property Tax Appeal

If you missed your opportunity to appeal in your triennial year of 2016 an appeal in 2017 can still achieve savings for two years until Palatine is reassessed in 2019. Since the housing market is always changing we believe it is in your interest to review your assessment every year to determine whether an appeal makes sense or not.

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New Trier Township 2019 Triennial Reassessments Mailed

New TrierTriennial reassessment notices were mailed to New Trier Township homeowners on Friday, March 29th. Valuation statistics from the Cook County Assessor’s office for New Trier Township can be found here (when they become available). Homeowners in New Trier have one month to appeal their assessment at the Assessor’s office (there is also a second opportunity to appeal later in the year at the Board of Review). The deadline for appealing at the Assessor’s office is Monday, April 29th.

We suggest homeowners review their assessment annually, especially in a reassessment year, to ensure they do not pay more than their fair share in property taxes. Successfully appealing in a reassessment year may provide 3 years of savings on future property tax bills. If you would like a free analysis of your New Trier property, in comparison to similar properties, we are happy to conduct a “no obligation” analysis and provide you with a free estimate of how much we believe we could help you save with an appeal.
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Crain’s: Undervalued Commercial Buildings May Shift Tax Burden

Cook County Commercial Property Tax AppealsA Crain’s Chicago Business analysis found that the Cook County Assessor’s Office may have undervalued some of the city’s priciest, most iconic commercial buildings, raising more questions about the “accuracy and fairness of Cook County’s assessment process.”

The February 23 story compared recent sales prices of 50 of the county’s most expensive buildings to the taxable value set by the assessor’s office. The analysis found the average building assessed at about 46% of its selling price.

One example of these so-called “trophy” buildings is the Aon Center, an 83-story office tower near Chicago’s Millennium Park, which sold for $712 million 2015. The assessor’s office, Crain’s reported, valued the property at $356.4 million.
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Listening Tour a Chance to Question Cook County Assessor

Listening Tour A Chance to Question Cook County AssessorCook County property owners who have something they’d like to say to, or ask of newly-elected Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi will have their chance next month as part of his roll-out of a “listening tour.”

There will be six opportunities in April beginning at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 6 in Palatine, according to a schedule released by the assessor’s office.

Additional events scheduled for April include stops in Schaumburg, Wilmette, Schiller Park and Chicago. Each event will run for 90 minutes and will also be attended by a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

For a complete list of the events scheduled so far, click here.
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Appeal Deadlines Suspended as Cook Assessor’s Office Manages the COVID-19 Threat

Appeal Deadlines SuspendedWith health and safety as the primary concern at the moment, the Cook County Assessor’s Office has temporarily suspended the deadlines for appealing your property tax assessment and the physical office is temporarily closed to the public.

If you live in one of the nine townships where the appeals window was open as of March 19, that means you can still file an appeal online, and the processing of appeals will continue. Residential property owners can also file applications for any of the various exemptions online as well.

If you live in one of the townships where assessment notices have not yet gone out, new dates for your appeal window will be announced as soon as they are available.

Kensington Taxpayer Advocates are Available to Help

In the meantime, at Kensington, our appeals staff is working remotely and available to help you attempt to lower your assessment. We are processing applications using e-signatures so you will not have to leave the safety and comfort of your home to begin the process of reducing your property tax bill. We will email you all of the required documents and you can sign using a smartphone, tablet or personal computer.
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Assessment Notices Mailed to Elk Grove Township

Elk GroveElk Grove Township assessment notices were mailed on Thursday, March 22nd, by the Cook County Assessor’s office. If you are a homeowner in Elk Grove Township the window to appeal your assessment is now open until the deadline of Monday, April 23rd.

We recommend you review your assessment twice per year, and appeal each time there is a strong appeal argument to be made. Others also recommend this approach.
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