Biggest Illinois County Assessing Pandemic’s Property Tax Impact

The largest county in Illinois, which includes Chicago, will review and adjust assessments on nearly two million properties to reflect the devastating impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on local real estate markets, the Assessor’s Office announced Tuesday.

Cook County, which includes Chicago and several surrounding suburbs, operates on a three-year cycle and reassesses the county’s 1.8 million parcels in thirds each year for property tax purposes. Under a new reassessment plan, the county plans to reassess the southern and western third of the county, and then adjust property values in Chicago and its northern suburbs if the public health crisis has had a significant impact on values.

“In view of the state and federal governments’ declaration of Illinois and Cook County as major disaster areas, and the pandemic’s toll on markets and property values, we are adjusting assessments to reflect this reality,” the county assessor, Fritz Kaegi, said. “To do so for only one portion of the county would unfairly shift the tax burden and create an inequitable system.”

• Cook County property values were affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 2008 housing crisis, Kaegi said, and similar impacts could result from the Covid-19 pandemic. He noted that the crisis has already affected hiring, income levels and construction activity, which typically impact real estate values.
• It remains unclear how much impact Kaegi’s assessment and adjustment processes will have on the tax bills sent to Cook County property owners, said Shawn M. King, a property tax principal in the Chicago office of Ryan LLC. Any cuts in valuations wouldn’t be felt for a year, King said in a client memo.

• Taxes in Illinois are paid one year in arrears. That means the impact of 2020 assessment reductions won’t be known until 2021, King said.