Property tax values in Oak Park jump 30% with the reassessment ... but Assessor Kaegi's own home (in the Township) assessment went DOWN

July 19, 2023 3

The Cook County reassessment of the Township Oak Park, located several miles west of downtown Chicago, occurred in April and increased the total taxable value of all properties there by 30 percent. 

That means if you own property in Oak Park you likely saw a 30 percent increase of your home's tax assessment. If your previous assessment was $250,000 (roughly the average national home price), then the reassessment likely raised it to $325,000, roughly.

But the home of the assessor himself ran in the opposite direction. Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi lives in Oak Park, and the reassessment did not increase his home's tax value by 30 percent or at all. Rather, fell by 5%.

Previously valued for taxes at $1.17 million, Kaegi's new home assessment is now $1.1 million. 

Reassessments, which aim to bring property tax valuations into line with the current selling prices of similar properties, occur once every three years for all Cook County properties. The County is divided into three different reassessment swathes -- Chicago proper, the Northern Suburbs, and the South and Western suburbs. This year, the South and Western Suburbs are under the microscope.

When a reassessment occurs, the homeowner's tax bill often jumps by, if not exactly, then close to the same amount as the percentage increase of the taxable value caused by the reassessment.

Asked about the shift by The Chicago Tribune, Kaegi argued the assessment was fair. We'll leave it to the reader to decide...