Tag Archives: property taxes

Reassessment Hikes Hit Some Evanston Homeowners Hard

Reassessment Hikes Hit Some Evanston Homeowners HardSome Evanston homeowners seeing the results of the recently completed property tax reassessment are reeling from increases of more than 50 percent, according to news reports.

The reassessment, while conducted under a formula tweaked by a new tax assessor working to revamp the much-criticized processes under his predecessor, is not expected to bring much good news to the county’s northernmost townships, particularly for homeowners along the lakefront.

Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, who urged residents to appeal their assessments both to the assessor’s office and to the Cook County Board of Review, reported through his office that homeowners along the lake had median increases in assessed values of 50%, while those in Evanston’s south and southwest neighborhoods had median increases of between 6% and 9%.
Continue reading →

High Cost of Local Government Keeps Property Taxes High

Cook County Property Tax Appeals & High Cost of Local GovernmentMore than 140 Illinois local government employees earned more than the governor, according to an Open The Books analysis of 2017 Illinois local government payrolls.

From park district bosses who earn $239,000 a year to 89 small town and village administrators paid in excess of $190,000 a year – more than any governor in the United States – the organization identified a wide list of Illinois public employees whose compensation packages are generous, to say the least.

This is yet another reason why property taxes continue to increase, with appealing them as your only source of relief.
Continue reading →

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.
Continue reading →

Partial Property Tax Deferral Available for Some Harris County Residents

Harris County

If you live in Harris County Texas and you’re worried that you won’t be able to pay the total amount due on your property taxes, a deferral is an option to postpone paying part of them.

It’s a deferral of taxes on increases in the value of your primary residence and it allows you to postpone paying taxes on a portion of the appreciating value of your home. You must file a tax deferral affidavit to take advantage of this option, which can be done for free at the Harris County Appraisal District’s (HCAD) office.

How Does It Work?

According to HCAD, this residence homeowner tax deferral allows eligible homeowners to pay property taxes on 105% of the preceding year’s appraised value of their home, plus the taxes on new improvements, and postpone paying the remainder for as long as they own and live in the house. The remainder of the taxes must be paid on time every year and interest on the deferred amount will accrue at 8% a year.
Continue reading →

Property Tax Exemption Deadline Approaching for Some Cook County Homeowners

Exemption Deadlines for Some Cook County Homeowners ApproachingEligible Cook County homeowners who did not receive the Homeowner Exemption in 2018 need to file an application for exemption with the Cook County Assessor’s Office by March 6.

The Homeowner Exemption reduces the Equalized Assessed Value (EAV) of a primary residence by $10,000. Your property tax bill is calculated by multiplying the tax rate in your local district by the EAV. The Homeowner Exemption is available to anyone who owns or leases their principal place of residence in Cook County and is responsible for the property taxes.

The exemption renews automatically so it is not necessary to reapply if you are still living in the same home where you received the exemption last year.
Continue reading →

Report Tracks Climbing Property Tax Rates for Chicago-area Residents

Report Tracks Climbing Property Tax Rates for Chicago-area ResidentsIf it feels like property taxes have been squeezing more and more out of your home value, it may not be your imagination.

The Civic Federation’s annual report on estimated effective property tax rates tracks the percentage of property taxes that Chicago area residents pay relative to the estimated full market value of their property. Recent results show what a newspaper headline described as “a bad decade for property taxes.”

According to the report, Chicago’s estimated effective residential property tax rate increased by 35.3%, from 1.25% to 1.69% of full market value, during the ten-year period from 2007 to 2016.  The tax rate is calculated as a percentage of full market value, without deducting for homestead and other exemptions, as a means of comparing the average property tax burdens in different areas over time.
Continue reading →