O'Keefe Lyons & Hynes LLC

In Evanston, commercial properties experienced an average tax increase of 33%. Since Evanston’s relatively diverse stock of property approximates that of Chicago, its actual experience anticipates what to expect in the 2021 Triennial Reassessment of Chicago.

The second installment 2019 tax bills are now available on the Treasurer’s website. https://www.cookcountytreasurer.com/setsearchparameters.aspx You may enter PINs and download the actual tax bills. Despite August 3, 2020 due date, payments made on or before October 1, 2020, will be considered timely by the Cook County Collector.

Cook County Board of Commissioners vote to defer the penalty date to October 1, 2020. The second installment 2019 tax bills will state that the due date is August 3, 2020. But payments will be treated as timely if made on or before October 1, 2020.

The 2019 (pay 2020) Cook County Equalizer/Multiplier is 2.9106. That is up slightly from the 2018 (pay 2019) value of 2.9109.
While the equalizer alone provides no indication of the likely taxes, it does provide some indication of the accuracy of assessments and the degree of assessment reductions granted by the Board of Review.

Assessor Kaegi recognizes that the current health and economic crises will impact real estate value. However, it was readily apparent that the actual ability of the Assessor and his staff to discover and accurately measure this impact within the strict timeframe of the assessment cycle is extremely limited or, even, nonexistent.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit approves a rare exercise of federal court jurisdiction over a constitutional challenge to Cook County property tax assessments brought by O’Keefe Lyons & Hynes on behalf of several commercial and industrial taxpayers. A.F. Moore & Assoc., Inc. v. Pappas, 948 F.3d 889 (7th Cir. 2020)

To understand Assessor Kaegi’s proposal it is helpful to understand how triennial reassessment operates ordinarily.

On April 3, 2020, Cook County Assessor announced that he intends to send 2020 assessment notices (affecting taxes payable in 2021) to all properties in Cook County reflecting the impact of Coronavirus on market value.

In the coming months, OLH will be gathering evidence of the impact of the coronavirus on the market value of commercial real estate. We will use this evidence, where appropriate, in 2020 Assessed Valuation Complaints.