COOK COUNTY BUILDING (WBBM Newsradio) -- Chicago homeowners have been taking on the lion’s share of property tax increases over the past year, according to the latest numbers from Cook County leaders.
A new report from the office of Maria Pappas shows office buildings downtown have been shedding property value since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago.
“Their taxes went down because there was no one in the buildings!” Pappas said during an interview with WBBM Newsradio in her office at the Cook County Building prior to the release of Monday’s report. “So, who got stuck? People living in houses got stuck.”
Stuck, she said, with what her office claims is a median property tax increase of 16.7% between 2023 and 2024. However, the new report suggests the increases for homeowners on the West and South sides were even higher.
Pappas went through her report to highlight examples: “Here’s a house in North Lawndale that went from $1,200 to $2,700,” a property tax increase of 128%. She then noted increases by ward: 68% in the West side ward of Chicago alderwoman Monique Scott, 67% in the South side ward of Ald.
Stephanie Coleman and 48% in the South side ward of Ald. Jeanette Taylor.
She says the other part of the equation is city spending that’s grown by more than $600 million in the same period, which she says is driving people out of the city.
“If you have a thousand dollars, and you spend two thousand or three thousand, you gotta figure out where the money’s coming from,” Pappas said. As a result, she suggested Chicago has “an ‘I’m out of here’ problem because costs are going up, and someone’s got to pay.”
She’s urging people to set up payment plans for their property taxes through her agency’s website.