Cook clerk to release tax rates

Cook County Clerk David Orr will release tax rates for second-installment property-tax bills on Monday.

It's one of the last steps before tax bills are mailed, still expected later this month with a due date a month later in December.

The tax rates basically carve up the revenue pie by establishing multipliers for the 1,200 taxing bodies in Chicago and Cook County.

Bills are expected to rise this year, but rates may not necessarily. Retiring Assessor James Houlihan has said all homeowners in Cook County received a lowered assessment with the imposition of the 10-25 ordinance setting assessments at 10 percent of assessed value for residential properties and 25 percent for commercial. Yet the Illinois Department of Revenue set a record-high multiplier to even Cook out with the state's other counties.

The rates will be released Monday at Orr's county office in downtown Chicago.