Here are more than a dozen ways Cook County’s property tax system could be more fair

A new study calls for government agencies involved in the Cook County property tax system to better collaborate to help the system become more fair and equitable, as a growing chorus of homeowners complain they are struggling to pay skyrocketing bills.

A common theme theme in the study is that communication between county Assessor Fritz Kaegi and the county Board of Review needs to improve. These two key county agencies help determine the fate of how much commercial property owners pay in taxes, and how that burden shifts to struggling homeowners.

Researchers found there’s a big gap in how much data these two agencies share to figure out how much a property is worth, leading to wild fluctuations in how much everyone in Cook County pays in taxes.

“If we get commercial property right, it’ll help residents because they’ll be paying a fair share,” said Jim Thompson, director of property tax policy for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. “Everyone will be paying a fair share.”

If the county has a more accurate picture of how much residential property owners owe in taxes each year, the government could come up with better ways to help people who are struggling to pay their bills, said Rachel Ruttenberg, Preckwinkle’s deputy chief of staff for policy. For starters, there’s a new $15 million homeowner relief fund next year.

For business owners, knowing what they might pay in property tax bills each year could help them better plan, Thompson said.

“If we have a system that is transparent, that’s predictable, that is fair and that people understand, it builds trust back into the system,” Thompson said.

Preckwinkle launched a property tax reform working group in 2021 to take a deeper look at how to fix the county’s complicated and confusing property tax system, which involves a web of agencies.

Property taxes are key to funding schools, libraries, park districts and other layers of government. But a common criticism is that the system is unfair, with people who live in low-income areas of the county socked with rising property tax bills they can’t afford, while landlords complain they pick up more than their fair share.

The Cook County Assessor values property and if a taxpayer doesn’t agree with the findings they can appeal to the Cook County Board of Review, which has three commissioners. Voters elected the people who run these agencies, and these leaders also are part of Preckwinkle’s property tax reform working group.

Cook County hired Josh Myers Valuation Solutions to review the way the county values commercial properties, from offices in skyscrapers to warehouses and neighborhood strip malls. Over the years, there’s been a volley of fingerpointing between the assessor and Board of Review commissioners as the burden of which taxpayers pay more or less shifts around the county.

“Concerns have been raised by stakeholders in these processes regarding the accuracy of mass valuations, the number of appeals, the large number of appeals at the (Board of Review) level that result in reductions” and the dynamics of the relationship between the assessor and Board of Review offices, the study found.

Since February, researchers have pored over close to 100,000 commercial and industrial properties and thousands of sales. They found the values of commercial properties in Cook County often don’t meet industry standards, and the inconsistent methods the assessor and Board of Review each use to determine property values combined with not doing a good job of sharing data contributes to substantial discrepancies in property values and assessments. These are some of the most important indicators for how much a property owner pays in taxes, Thompson said.

The study also found that commercial properties are frequently underassessed around the county, particularly in the south and north suburbs. That means homeowners could be paying more than their fair share.

Researchers recommended more than a dozen areas where procedures for assessing properties could be improved. Some ideas have already been implemented.

Suggestions include storing data in a centralized database with information about properties, like the type (such as an office building) and where they are located. For example, commercial taxpayers often don’t provide appraisals outlining the fair market value of their properties, or their income and expenses that would help the assessor better determine how much their properties are worth. Yet when they appeal to the Board of Review, they almost always provide this information. There’s no effective process in place to share this data with the assessor’s office.

Researchers recommended employees at the assessor’s office attend hearings before the Board of Review more regularly to defend the way they determine how much properties are worth.

Another suggestion: if analysts at the assessor’s office and Board of Review met more regularly to talk about how they each approach valuing property, they might create more consistent methods, the study found, creating less of a rollercoaster of a process.

Thompson said the conflicts between the assessor and Board of Review go back decades. In a statement, both offices supported collaborating more.

Kristen Schorsch covers public health and Cook County for WBEZ.