Alderman Silvana Tabares stepped up to offer property tax assistance events after her 23rd Ward office received a surge of calls from residents facing sky-high property tax increases.
The alderman’s office partnered with the Cook County Assessor’s Office for workshops on Dec. 3 and 4 to help residents navigate appeals and exemptions.
“Today we are helping residents with their property taxes,” Tabares said. “Residents are paying too much; they keep rising every year and we’re holding this workshop today to find ways about how they can save, get refunds and how they can get exemptions.”
More than 100 people visited the West Lawn ward office during a two-hour period Dec. 4.
“It’s hard times and people are having difficulties trying to pay their property taxes at the moment,” said ward resident Sylvia Luque. “We are a low income family area, so there’s a lot of difficulties here [that] I’ve been hearing from my neighbors and everybody who lives here in West Lawn.”
Appeals deadline extended.
The Cook County Board of Review reopened all townships for property tax appeals until Dec. 12. Property taxes are due Dec. 15; residents have until Dec. 22 to file supporting evidence.
Appeal savings apply to future bills and will appear on 2025 second-installment statements, sent mid-summer 2026. Previous appeals are not eligible for the extension.
Residents can file appeals free at the Cook County Board of Review website, by visiting the Cook County building or attending online Board of Review events.
“Our office is always here to help,” Tabares said, adding that residents can still call the 23rd Ward office for assistance in Spanish and English.
Key exemptions available.
Christian Belanger, director of press relations at the Cook County Assessor’s Office, said residents should check exemptions before tax time arrives.
People can check for their exemptions received and the calculations done to compute their amount owed at the bottom left-hand corner of the second installment tax bill, he said.
“The number one exemption people should check for is the Homeowner exemption, which you are eligible for as long as your property is your principal place of residence,” Belanger said. “People over 65 [years of age] can get the Senior exemption and people over 65 who have an annual income of $65,000 or less can also get the Senior Freeze exemption.”
Most people at assessor events get help applying for exemptions they qualify for but don’t have, he said. Approved applicants receive a Certificate of Error that adjusts their tax bill.
Some exemptions renew automatically, but others like the Senior Freeze must be renewed annually by taxpayers.
“This is a powerful exemption that can reduce tax bills a lot for low income seniors who tend to be on fixed incomes or incomes that rise slowly due to cost of living adjustments to social security benefits,” he said. “We see a lot of people coming into our downtown offices each year or to these events because the senior freeze [exemption] fell off their tax bill.”
Taxpayers can generally renew those exemptions at the beginning of the year in spring-time to avoid sticker-shock, Belanger said.
Broader tax increase causes.
Sky-high homeowner tax bills on the southwest, south and west sides are due to reductions from appeals by large downtown commercial properties and residential real estate markets recovering equity lost during the Great Recession, according to the Cook County Assessor’s office.
Nearly 250,000 residents have experienced property tax spikes in recent years, according to the Assessor’s Office.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi continues to work with legislators to stop continued racial inequities by advocating for state circuit breaker laws limiting how much a homeowners tax bill can increase year-to-year.
Alderman Tabares cited the partnership with the Assessor’s office assistance as a pathway to lower property tax bills.
“People are paying almost double what they used to pay,” Tabares said. “I’m so happy to see the Cook County Assessor’s office here to help guide residents through the process of making sure they are filing their tax, homestead and senior exemptions, including the opportunity to appeal so their bills won’t be as high next time.”
