Where’s the cap on property tax hikes?

Forgive me for sounding off but I know I’m not the only one who experienced total dismay when opening up my property tax bill. I live in an condo association, and our property was reassessed last year and, like everyone else’s, our property values went down. I noticed that they did not credit my bill for the homeowners exemption. My taxes went up 11.5 percent before the exemption. After taking a day off work to apply for the exemption I was told I would not get the $1,000 exemption as last year but only $786. (In other words, the more your property is worth, the more exemption you receive.) This meant my taxes increased 22 percent.

This is unfair. What will they do next year? Increase by 50 percent? Taxes should not be levied by the taxing bodies without a cap. They should be held accountable to the taxpayers. My association has a 5 percent cap per calendar year. What steps are necessary to propose a cap on Cook County property taxes? Show us the way.

Chris Zastrow

Bartlett