Huh? Homeowners blindsided by taxesMany residents scratching heads over big increasesWednesday, October 08, 2008
Chicago Tribune
by Hal Dardick Stunned homeowners are lining up at assessor's offices across Cook County after opening up property-tax bills with whopping increases in recent days.
In a declining real estate market, many mistakenly thought their shrinking home values would lead to a smaller tax bite.
But north and northwest suburban homeowners, along with their counterparts in booming city neighborhoods, are in many cases facing double-digit increases—or worse. In the rest of the county, it's not quite as bad.
"We have a lot of people who are confused because the current economic circumstances would lead them to believe that their assessment should go down," said county Assessor James Houlihan. "Their actual tax liability has gone up." The reasons why many saw substantial increases while others saw lesser hikes or even modest decreases are as complicated as the county's convoluted property-tax system, officials said.
•A major tax-assessment break is being phased out, starting in the city, and home values are rising in the eyes of the government, even if they would sell for less on today's market.
•Though property-tax caps softened the blow in many cases, those ceilings don't apply to all towns. In some suburbs, voters approved referendum measures, raising their own taxes.
•County assessments are done every three years, meaning homeowners get socked all at once. In the north and northwest suburbs, where bills reflect the most recent assessments, the values are based on the housing market as it was nearly two years ago.
•The so-called 7 percent-a-year limit on assessment increases—an exemption designed to soften the blow of rising home values and their effect on taxes—varies depending on several factors, including length of ownership, increase in assessed value, time of purchase and income.
The county property-tax system now is so complex and depends on so many variables that even the experts can't predict what the average homeowner's bill will look like, said Laurence Msall, president of The Civic Federation.
"Cook County has always had a complex property-tax system, but recent changes by the legislature . . . have made it incomprehensible and unpredictable," Msall said.
With that in mind, experts said a few broad observations about the recent tax bills can be made.
In the north and northwest suburbs, the recent assessments have in some cases increased bills at rates beyond the protection provided by tax breaks. In Chicago, the limit on assessment increases is lower this year as state law phases it out, causing double-digit increases in individual tax bills in some areas.
The south and southwest suburbs generally won't see big increases until next year, when property reassessments being done now show up on tax bills.
Tribune reporter Kristen Kridel contributed to this report.
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