25% of suburban Cook homeowners saw lower property taxes: See the median tax bill town by town

About a quarter of homeowners in North and Northwest suburban Cook County saw their property taxes decrease in 2022, while only 7.8% of commercial properties experienced declines.

An analysis by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas' office shows commercial properties bore the heavier burden of the nearly $94 million increase in property taxes in the North and Northwest suburbs this year.

Real estate taxes in communities north of North Avenue increased 1.9% this year to nearly $5.1 billion, according to the study. Homeowners contributed nearly $33 million to that increase, while commercial property owners saw a rise of about $60 million.

More than 20,000 commercial properties in those suburbs paid more in 2022 than in 2021, while only about 1,700 saw lower bills. In contrast, about 305,000 homeowners experienced an increase in property taxes this year while about 104,000 paid less.

Because homes were not reassessed this year, any tax increases seen were largely due to higher levies from local governments. Those governments also can raise their tax revenues through new development.

Four Northwest suburbs saw their median residential tax grow by more than $200 this year:

• Barrington Hills, where the median increased by $259 to $15,251.

• South Barrington, where the median rose by $233 to $15,631.

• Prospect Heights, where the median grew by $228 to $4,853.

• Barrington, where the median rose $207 to $8,246.

Barrington Unit School District 220, which overlaps three of those municipalities, voted to increase its total tax levy by $5.4 million for the current academic year.

Another factor that played a role is Illinois' new recapture law. It allows local governments such as school, park and library districts to make up for money refunded as a result of successful property assessment appeals by adding the lost amount to their overall levies the following year.

Examples of the impact of this recapture provision include $3.8 million added to Northwest Suburban High School District 214's levy, and more than $7.5 million added to the levy of the countywide Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

The recapture law can have a compounding effect for all the taxing bodies that overlap on a relevant property and are able to seek relief from all the other taxpayers they share in common.

Across Cook County, the law contributed an additional $131 million in property taxes - about a fifth of the overall increase in 2022.

Seventeen suburbs - more than a third of them in the North and Northwest suburbs - saw their median commercial tax bills rise by $1,000 or more this year.

The hardest hit of all was the hotel, retail and entertainment hub of Rosemont. There the median commercial property tax bill rose by more than $33,000 to $187,219, a nearly 22% increase.