Northern Cook County homeowners see highest property tax spike in 30 years

Northwest suburban Cook County homeowners can expect a bit of sticker shock when they open their mailboxes this week to find the second installment of their property tax bills.

Residential tax bills for all suburban properties north of North Avenue were reassessed last year, resulting in a median hike of 15.7% for homeowners in that part of the county. That's the largest percentage increase in at least 30 years, according to a study conducted by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas' office.

"I think the analysis is pretty self-explanatory," Pappas said, noting many taxing bodies took advantage of inflation, allowing them to increase their levies to the maximum 5% allowed by state law.

Combined, property owners in Cook County are paying nearly $1 billion more in property taxes than last year, according to the analysis.

The total tax bill rose $909 million to $17.63 billion for all Cook County property owners this year, a 5.4% increase from last year. Homeowners are covering nearly $600 million of the growth, the analysis shows.

Multiple factors led to the spike in property tax bills for North and Northwest suburban homeowners.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi gave all residential property owners a 10% break on taxes on average, assuming the housing market would crash. It didn't. Instead, the opposite happened, and home values have largely skyrocketed in recent years.

On the opposite end of that spectrum, commercial property values have plunged, due in large part to vacancies.

Additionally, the Cook County Board of Review reduced assessed values of commercial properties by 20% from what had been set by Kaegi's office, leaving residential properties generally unchanged. These changes in property values shift the tax burden from those commercial property owners to homeowners.

In the reassessed part of Northern Cook County, homeowners are paying $387 million more than they did last year, while commercial property owners are paying a combined $56 million less.

The state's new recapture law that allows governments to increase taxes across the board to cover losses created by any refunds also accounted for a significant portion of the spike in taxes. Researchers at Pappas' office said $203.7 million of the overall spike was attributed to various taxing bodies seeking to recapture funds lost by refunds granted to property owners in recent years.

The second installment of this year's Cook County tax bills are being mailed Wednesday and are due Dec. 1.