Last week, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi announced a temporary suspension of reassessment notices and filing deadlines. This follows the Assessor’s closing his office to the public on March 13, 2020 in light of the growing...more
A large and growing source of property tax refunds in Cook County are generated when a Court reverses or vacates the sale of delinquent taxes. A recent Appellate Court decision provides a good overview of the tax sale...more
2/12/2020
/ Appeals ,
Delinquency Status ,
Plain Error ,
Property Tax ,
Real Estate Market ,
Reversal ,
State and Local Government ,
Tax Code ,
Tax Refunds ,
Tax Sales ,
Vacated
In a recent Illinois Appellate Court decision, a taxpayer unsuccessfully challenged a school district’s guaranteed energy savings contract. School Board members should be aware of this decision because the favorable outcome...more
11/6/2019
/ Change Orders ,
Construction Project ,
Contract Terms ,
Delays ,
Dismissals ,
Energy Conservation ,
Laches ,
Liability ,
Municipalities ,
Open Meetings Act ,
Public Bidding ,
Public Projects ,
School Boards ,
School Districts ,
Sunshine Laws
The Illinois Department of Revenue has released the final 2018 Cook County equalization factor. The factor (sometimes referred to as the multiplier) for 2018 is 2.9109. The press release from the Department of Revenue is...more
At a meeting of the City Club of Chicago yesterday, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi presented his plans to modernize the Assessor’s office. Kaegi announced that the first area of Cook County he will reassess are the north...more
Yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a decision in Oswald v. Hamer marking the latest chapter in a controversy dating to 2003. The decision finds that Section 15-86 of the Illinois Property Tax Code, which provides a...more
9/21/2018
/ Charitable Organizations ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hospitals ,
IL Supreme Court ,
Non-Profit Hospitals ,
Property Tax ,
School Districts ,
Tax Code ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Tax Revenues ,
Taxation
Last week a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois by a group of seven Cook County taxpayers challenging the time it has taken to adjudicate their claims in the Cook County Circuit...more
The Illinois Department of Revenue has released the final 2017 Cook County equalization factor. The multiplier for 2017 is 2.9627. ...more
This past Friday, Governor Bruce Rauner issued Executive Order 2018-01 entitled “Executive Order to Eliminate Impermissible Conflicts of Interest at the Property Tax Appeals Board”. The Order states that the PTAB “shall...more
For the past eight years, Franczek Radelet has tracked property tax assessment data obtained from the Cook County Assessor's Office. Our data set begins in tax year 2009 when the classification ordinance was amended to...more
This week the Chicago Tribune published a three-part series of investigative reporting on the Cook County property tax system and the appeals process entitled “The Tax Divide”. Tribune reporters are examining 1) how the tax...more
Last Friday the Illinois Department of Revenue released the final 2016 Cook County equalization factor, which will be used to calculate the second installment property tax bills that are anticipated to be due in August 2017....more
The Illinois Supreme Court has issued an opinion in Carle Foundation v. Cunningham Township, the case involving the constitutionality of the statute granting hospitals a special property tax exemption. In remanding this case...more
Recently, there have been several noteworthy developments in the controversy surrounding property tax exemptions for Illinois hospitals. For the past decade we’ve been providing updates as this issue progressed through the...more
While overall there is little activity in the General Assembly, the House Revenue Committee is meeting today for a hearing on an interesting piece of property tax legislation. The hearing is on HB4363, which would create the...more
Over the past few years there has been no shortage of FOIA requests and media attention on how school districts and other units of local government spend or reimburse spending on conferences, dining, and travel. Last week...more
Last Thursday the Illinois Supreme Court struck down a special property tax exemption for a single aeronautical services company operating out of the Quad City International Airport. As noted in the July 2015 FR Alert...more
You can add one more lawsuit to the mountain of litigation concerning how and when Illinois hospitals are entitled to a property tax exemption. Earlier this month a limited partnership filed a class action lawsuit naming...more
On Thursday, the Illinois Department of Revenue released the final 2015 Cook County equalization factor. The multiplier for 2015 is 2.6685.
As the following chart demonstrates, the final Cook County equalization...more
Recently, Fair and Equitable Magazine published an article on the topic of the valuation and assessment appeals of big box stores, which make up a large volume of cases before the Property Tax Appeal Board and valuation...more
Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) that will be used in the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) limiting rate calculations for 2016...more
A new chapter has been added to the long saga of property tax exemptions for hospitals in Illinois. Last week, an Illinois Appellate Court struck down as unconstitutional Section 15-86 of the Property Tax Code, which created...more
In a 46-page decision issued yesterday by the 4th District Appellate Court, a recently enacted provision of the Illinois Property Tax Code, Section 15-86, has been found unconstitutional. Section 15-86 created a separate...more
With property tax levy season in full swing, assessed values and new property values are of major importance to board members and finance officials. For the seventh year we have obtained and analyzed Cook County assessment...more
Last week, an Illinois Appellate Court denied several school districts’ attempt to vacate a settlement agreement between the taxpayers’ attorney and the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office in a tax rate objection case. The...more