How the Cook Country Property Tax System Works
Anyone who owns property in Cook County, will, without a doubt, deal with the Cook County Assessor’s Office. Therefore, a review of the Cook County property tax system can help to explain how taxes are being calculated and allocated to various agencies within each township. A good grasp on this system will allow you to understand how and when to file a property tax appeal.
The Assessor’s Role in Property Tax System
The Cook County Assessor’s Office is responsible for setting assessments of 1.8 million properties. This is a massive task that, in the past, was impossible to complete in a single year. To get it done, the Cook County Assessor uses a divide and conquer strategy. The assessor divides the county into 3 regions, South Chicago, the city, and North Chicago, and starts to re-assess properties in these regions once every three years, thus setting a triennial reassessment schedule for all properties in the county.
2020 is the first year in which the Cook County Assessor’s Office will try to use new technology to re-assess the whole county at once. This may or may not change the triennial reassessment schedule of the past, but no one knows for sure.
The assessor is responsible for multiple processes as part of the overall property tax system, including:
- Setting valuations of properties within the county.
- Collecting data regarding economic and neighborhood trends.
- Handling property tax appeals.
- Granting property tax exemptions to homeowners in need.
- Setting assessment of neighborhood boundaries.
Since the job of assessing and processing appeals for all properties is very time consuming, the assessor subdivides all tasks based on townships. In Cook County, there are 38 townships and as such, the county assessor allocates time for 6-7 townships a month during the first half of the year to re-assess each township and to process appeals on properties in them.
How Taxes Are Levied
Property tax levies are budgeted by local governments to fund services like schools, fire departments, police departments, libraries, etc. every year. Once the budges are set, this information is sent to the Cook County Clerk, who must wait for the new property tax assessments from the assessor’s office and the new state equalization factor value from the Illinois Department of Revenue. Since the assessor needs to wait until Cook County Board of Review certifies assessments for all properties before setting current year assessments, the assessor needs to work through each township one by one. Because it takes time to receive estimates from various municipalities and the department of revenue, the Cook County Clerk sets the current year tax rate and issues second installment tax bills to all homeowners by the end of June.
When Properties Are Assessed?
Properties are assessed for value and ownership on the first of January of an assessment year. Partial assessments will be set for all properties that are undergoing construction or extensive remodeling and for those for which property tax appeals were previously filed with the county assessor and/or the board of review. The county assessor does not proactively reduce the tax assessment of any vacant or uninhabitable property due to a shortage of field agents needed to inspect such properties and rely on homeowners to inform them of the condition of their properties through appeal. It is also important to understand that if the township one lives in is being re-assessed during the current tax year, the county assessor will set the new property assessment for all properties in that township one month before starting to accept appeal applications and will mail re-assessment notices to all property owners on record.
Method for Estimating the Property Tax Value
The Cook County Assessor uses a “multiple régression” mass-market valuation technique to determine the fair property value of each property being re-assessed in any given year. This technique is like the process appraisers use to determine the value of a single property but on a mass scale. It is important to mention that unlike appraisers, the Cook County Assessor uses the property tax classification of each property as an integral component of such valuations, whereas the appraiser does not. Parameters like neighborhood, tax code, age, and property classification are particularly important in any assessment/valuation process and should always be considered when appealing any property in Cook County.
Methods of Appealing Properties in Cook County
Property owners have multiple reasons to appeal their property taxes with the Cook County Assessor and/or Cook County Board of Review, such as:
- Property tax description error
- Lack of uniformity
- Market overvaluation based on the purchase price
- Market overvaluation based on recent appraisal
- Property is vacant and uninhabitable
- Property is damaged due to fire
- Income-based appeal for income-generating properties
- Vacancy based appeal for income-generating properties
In most cases, it is impossible to file a property tax appeal to contest the prior year’s taxes based on market overvaluation and/or lack of uniformity. In cases where such appeals are necessary, one must file a certificate of error appeal using vacancy and uninhabitable status of the property as the basis for such appeal.
Changes in Assessments
In the Cook County property tax system, property owners must be notified when there is a change in a property assessment. Therefore, mailed notice of an assessment increase must be sent to a property owner using their address on file. If the change is sent to a mortgage lender, the company must forward a copy of the modification to the borrower within seven days of its receipt.
Property Tax Exemptions
The Cook County Assessor also has a responsibility to issue property tax exemptions to all eligible homeowners. The list of exemptions available to homeowners is very extensive, and every homeowner should take advantage of these exemptions once they buy their home. Exemptions do not apply to investors, who own residential properties for rent, apartment buildings, commercial properties, or industrial properties.
Some exemptions will roll over from one year to another without requiring the homeowner to re-apply, such as the homeowner’s and senior citizen exemptions, but others will not. Homeowners must pay attention to their exemptions and apply for them every year when needed. If a homeowner forgets to apply for their exemptions, he or she can apply for them retroactively for the past 3-4 years, based on the property’s purchase year. To do that, the homeowner must file a certificate of error to get their refund.
State Equalization Factor: Why it’s Necessary
As mentioned before, the Illinois Department of Revenue sets state equalization factor, or county final multiplier, for Cook County in June of each year. The department determines its value for Cook County by comparing the actual selling prices of individual properties from a 3-year period with the assessed values placed on these properties by the county assessor. If the median level of assessment for all properties in the county varies from the 33 1/3 percent level required by law, the equalization factor is assigned to bring assessments to the legally mandated level. The equalization factor does not cause individual tax bills to go up, but rather individual taxing bodies determine tax bills when they request the dollars they need to provide and pay for services.
Apportionment of Property Taxes in the Cook Country Property Tax System
The Cook County property tax system requires that certain properties carry a higher tax burden than others. According to the county’s classification ordinance, for example, a commercial property with a class 5a designation will assess at 25% of its fair cash value. That amount is two and a half times the tax rate of class 2 residential property, which assesses at 10%.
Therefore, it’s important to familiarize one’s self with the property tax classifications in the Cook Country property tax system. This knowledge can further help determine if one is being charged a fair and equitable property tax.
Conclusion
To be successful in navigating the Cook County Property Tax system timing is the key. To mount a successful appeal with the Cook County Assessor or the Board of Review, one needs to do it during the appropriate appeal period set by each agency for their township.