CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi admits that some businesses are going through some "sticker shock" with their new, much higher, tax assessments. But he said he believes they'll get over it when they understand the unfairness is ending.
Fritz Kaegi said that many big properties were vastly under-assessed under his predecessor, Joe Berrios. That lowered their property tax bill. But, he explained, those numbers were not based on market value or anything reliable.
Now, he said, his office is changing things. But making the system fair doubled some apartment building assessments -- such as some in Evanston. But assessments are not taxes, he said.
"What looks like 100 percent increase in taxes is only 100 percent increase in assessment because of the way our assessment system works," he said.
Kaegi added that recalculations that have been made in some areas many mean assessments are going up, sometimes way up. But, he reiterated, taxes won't go up that much.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi is the guest on our AT ISSUE program this weekend, and you can hear more Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. on 780 AM or 105.9 FM or at radio.com.