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The Legal Pad of Richard Magnone |
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The Legal Pad of Richard Magnone
this month: Cook County Property Taxes On Their
Way!
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MANY COUNTY RESIDENTS
SHOULD PREPARE FOR INCREASED TAXES If you have called the Cook County Assessor's Office during July or August, you may have noticed that your requests are politely rebuffed with the phrase "I'm sorry, our computer is down, I can't get that information." The reason: County computers are working furiously to get out the second installment of 1997 property tax bills. Property taxes are paid in "arrears". That is, you pay tax this year for the time you lived in the property last year. In Cook County, property tax bills come out twice a year. The first installment, which is almost always one half of the prior years' bill, was due in March. The second installment bills will be arriving shortly. HOW DOES THE SECOND INSTALLMENT DIFFER? The second installment will include any changes in assessed value, tax rate, or state multiplier. In most instances, the second installment will be larger than the first. This is generally because assessments for most properties will rise every three years (when the County conducts its triennial assessments). In addition, tax rates are always on the increase. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO SEE AN INCREASE? In 1996, the County reassessed west and south townships. Those townships are: Berwyn, Bloom, Bremen, Calumet, Cicero, Lemont, Lyons, Oak Park, Orland, Palos, Proviso, Rich, River Forest, Riverside, Thornton, and Worth. Lemont township assessments rose on average by 15.8%! On the other end of the spectrum, Rich and Berwyn townships rose only 5.7%. As a result of these increases, property taxes will go up for the majority of residents in these townships. WHO IS NEXT? During 1997, the County will be reassessing the City of Chicago townships: Lake, Lakeview, Jefferson, North, West, South, Rogers Park, and Hyde Park. Some residents of these townships may have already received their reassessment notices. Upon reassessment, the Assessor sends a Notice of Proposed Assessed Valuation to property owners listing the prior assessed value, the market value and the new proposed assessment. Property owners should check the information carefully to make sure that no errors such as locations or size of the property are made. If there are errors, the property owner can file a Certificate of Error with the Assessor's Office. WHAT CAN BE DONE? Well, for the 1996 taxes and some of the City townships, little can be done. For these people, the time to appeal the reassessments is past. however, any resident of the County can take action for next year. The current appeal schedule is as follows
WHO IS TO BE REASSESSED IN 1998? The North and Northwest Suburbs can expect a reassessment in 1998. The townships affected will be: Barrington, Elk Grove, Evanston, Hanover, Leyden, Maine, New Trier, Niles, Northfield, Norwood Park, Palatine, Schaumburg, and Wheeling. Good luck! RESOURCES Click here to see how the County computes your tax bill. Click here to access a plethora of County Taxpayer Assistance resources Click here to e-mail the County Assessor's taxpayer assistance person Click here to run a property tax information search if you live in a 1997 reassessed area DISCLAIMER This web site is intended to supply general information to the public. Although the information is generally accurate, it cannot be guaranteed. The nature of Legislation is that laws change quickly, and visitors should always insure that legal information is accurate before relying on it. The above information applies the law of the State of Illinois. The law in your jurisdiction may be different. This information is necessarily brief and may or may not apply to your situation. In all cases, PLEASE, consult a lawyer before acting. This web site is not intended to be advertising, solicitation, or legal advice. Thus, the reader should not consider this information to be an invitation for an attorney-client relationship, should not rely on information provided herein, and should always seek the advice of competent counsel in the reader's state. |
