Property tax appeals futile, painful

Recently I received my property tax bill. Of course it went up a lot, and I decided to take a day off and drive over to Skokie to the Cook County, rather Crook County, assessor’s office to ask why I haven’t received my longtime occupant exemption that I mailed in June. Living in Des Plaines over 20 years, I’ve been told that “I’m entitled to it” by a lawyer. So after waiting in line for over an hour, the clerk explained what I already know. The equalizer went down, tax rates went up, exemptions went down this year, assessments also went down ... blah, blah, blah.

I left feeling sad, not because my bill wasn’t lowered, but because of the people waiting in line for so long. An elderly lady with a walker approximately in her 80s having to stand and wait because seats in the waiting area are too low. Another lady also in her 70s to 80s leaving with tears running down her cheeks looking for a Kleenex. A third lady waiting over two hours in line, after speaking with a clerk confides with her friend that they could not help her and she doesn’t know how she is going to pay for this bill. Her husband has been on disability for the last couple of years and they can’t afford these taxes.

When are our elected officials going to get it? We are sick and tired of tax hikes. Every elected official says we need to do this and we need to do that. We need, need, need. We, as citizens, need to focus on the upcoming elections and we need to get these crooks out of office.

Chris Cienlevicz

Des Plaines