Cook County Assessor blames another county department for homeowners' higher property tax bills
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Instead of going down, the Cook County Assessor says most Chicago homeowners will see their property taxes go up when they get their next bill.
But he says it's not his fault.
As CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov reported Monday, Assessor Fritz Kaegi says if left to his office, the homeowners would not see a hike at all. He is blaming a different Cook County department for giving big tax breaks to the owners of big commercial buildings.
Kaegi said the owners of those commercial buildings have come out the winners, while the owners of homes have come out the losers.
Monday marked Cook County property tax bill eve – and many Chicago homeowners are dreading their bills.
"I'm hoping it doesn't go up that much. I'm keeping my fingers crossed," said Jill Massucci-Hartlauf. "That's the best I can do."
Massucci-Hartlauf and her family bought a Humboldt Park three-flat and are rehabbing it into a single-family home. Like every Chicago property, it was reassessed this year.
Kaegi blames the Cook County Board of Review for the bigger-than-expected bill that's coming.
He said the Board of Review "this year gave really lopsided reductions to the biggest commercial buildings." Most of those buildings that saw such breaks are in the downtown area.
Kaegi laid it all out in a recent report. For one example, a half-million square-foot building at 1000 W. Fulton Market - which houses Google's Midwest headquarters - was assessed at $197.3 million in 2021. But Kaegi said the Cook County Board of Review later reduced its value by 18 percent to $161.8 million.
A few months later, the building sold for twice that amount. So according to the Assessor's office, the owner's property tax bill was cut by more than $1 million.
"They need to explain why they're assessing buildings far below what they're selling for; far below what these buildings tell their lenders that they're worth," Kaegi said.
This is especially the case, Kaegi said, because it means the property tax burden now shifts to homeowners to make up the difference.
"The bigger story is that people were in line to have lower bills," Kaegi said. "The average Chicagoan had a lower bill last year because of the work that we'd done."
It all leaves a bad taste in the mouths of people like Massucci-Hartlauf, who says while big business is important to fuel Chicago's economic engine, so is keeping homeowners in their homes.
"I'm not well-connected. I'm just a homeowner, and I'm trying to live in a city that I love," she said, "and if I can't afford to live here, it's a little concerning."
Late Monday, the chief deputy commissioner of the Board of Review fired back – accusing Kaegi of trying to distract and change the focus away from his own office's errors, lapses, and deficiencies. Chief Deputy Commissioner William O'Shields also defends the Board of Review's rulings:
<blockquote>"Assessor Kaegi's 'it's not my fault' report ignores the reality that he continues to make numerous and significant errors in his assessment of Cook County properties resulting in the BOR, the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, and Cook County Circuit Court having to correct his mistakes. These forums only see the properties that are appealed, not the thousands of others that Kaegi has erroneously assessed, some of whom have lost their homes and businesses because Assessor Kaegi elects to play politics.
"The Assessor fell behind in his work last year and is once again behind schedule this year, placing schools, libraries, and local government at risk again. It should be noted that the Cook County Inspector General recently issued a scathing 74 page report on Kaegi's office that details insider dealings, unexplained changes in values, and a process that was far from open or transparent to the average Cook County homeowner. So it is not surprising that Kaegi is attempting to distract and change the subject."</blockquote>
O'Shields also said the Board of Review's methodologies are consistent with those of property tax assessment bodies throughout the majority of the country – which was also consistent of the Cook County Assessor's office until the Kaegi administration's first assessment in 2019.