Cook County will be reevaluating property taxes throughout the county this year due to the coronavirus. | Pixabay
Cook County will be reevaluating property taxes throughout the county this year due to the coronavirus. | Pixabay
Every single property in Cook County will have its value reassessed this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi told WBEZ that the coronavirus has had a major impact on real estate value in the county which is why it's important to reevaluate property values, especially since local government rely on property tax revenue to fund projects.
“Our job is to estimate the market value of real estate and the crisis has a significant effect on many kinds of real estate,” Kaegi told WBEZ.
Many commercial landlords will be seeing a large decrease in rental income with businesses and organizations closing to stop the spread of COVID-19, according to WBEZ. Residential landlords will also be seeing a similar decrease in the amount of rent collected as many tenants become unemployed and unable to pay rent.
Any property owners who think their property has lost value due to the coronavirus are encouraged to submit an appeal, Kaegi told WBEZ. The appeals filed will be used to reassess the values of those properties and these new values will be the basis for property tax. Kaegi told WBEZ that all property value reassessments will be complete by December.
Even if property owners don't file an appeal a change in value could still be seen this year.
Property owners in the south suburbs are scheduled for a reevaluation this year and could be seeing changes in property values even if they didn't file for an appeal, Kaegi told WBEZ.
Having accurate property values is important because the values are used to determine the amount of tax burden paid to local governments, according to WBEZ.
“We know that so many people’s lives have been turned upside down in this crisis,” Kaegi told WBEZ. “That building owners and tenants are working together, figuring out what accommodations they can make, and we want to make sure that we are being good partners in that process, that we’re reflecting the real circumstances out there that everyone is facing.”
There's even a chance reassessing the property values will be in favor of property owners, Laurence Msall told WBEZ.
Msall told WBEZ that there is a potential that assessments will lead to a reduction in taxes for some. But until the property taxes are mailed out in 2021, the exact reductions won't be known.
“There are a lot of unknowns,” Msall told WBEZ.
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