Kaegi hosts online workshop on assessments

From staff reports

People who own Southwest Side property are invited to learn about property assessments at an online meeting hosted by Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17.

To participate, join via Zoom at bit.ly/proptaxworkshop1117.

The event is for everyone owns property in Lake Township, which includes the entire Southwest Side, as well as much of the South Side.

The online session is co-sponsored by 18^th Ward Ald. Derrick Curtis and the Scottsdale Neighborhood Watch.

The meeting is designed to help property owners:

• Understand their reassessment notice.
• Learn how to determine if an assessment appeal should be filed.
• Learn how to file for missing exemptions.

The hourlong meeting will include questions and answers.

The Cook County Assessor’s Office released initial assessments of residential and commercial properties in Lake Township. This is the sixth of eight townships in the City of Chicago to be reassessed in 2021 under the leadership of Assessor Fritz Kaegi, who took office after Chicago’s last reassessment in 2018.

Increases in assessments reflect a strong market. Assessments, under Illinois law, should reflect overall market values. The first step to ensuring property owners pay only their fair share of property taxes—without needing to file appeals to correct inaccurate assessments—is to make sure assessments of all property types accurately reflect the real estate market.

Lake Township property owners were notified by mail of their new property assessments late last week. The deadline to file appeals to assessments is Dec. 6.

How assessments relate to property taxes

An increase in a property’s assessment does not lead to the same increase in an individual property’s tax bill. A property’s share of taxes depends on reassessments throughout all of Chicago.

Property reassessments are ongoing for Chicago’s six townships. If the growth in assessed values throughout Chicago outpaces the growth of the assessed value of an individual property in Lake Township, that individual property’s share of property taxes could shrink despite its increase in property value.

Property assessments in Chicago are used to apportion taxing district levies, which pay for services such as schools, parks, libraries, and pensions. The Assessor does not set levies or tax rates. In addition, increases in assessments do not necessarily increase the revenue received by taxing districts.

The 2021 assessments will affect the second installment property tax bill issued in late 2022.