An Illinois Answers and Chicago Tribune investigative report found Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office missed critical data from at least 620 properties in 2023 alone. This shifts the property tax burden onto other homeowners, causing their property tax bill to skyrocket. The report found that Kaegi’s office regularly mis-classifies and undervalues properties throughout Cook County(1) largely in more affluent townships.
Redlining is a discriminatory practice where it segregates people of color into poor communities and is rooted in unfair housing practices. Redlining was outlawed in 1968 but an Axios report finds that it is alive and well today(2). The practices of the Office of Cook County Assessor are undeniably unfair towards people communities of color throughout Cook County.
The report from Illinois Answers identified that Kaegi’s office missed $444 million dollars in assessed value, largely in more affluent areas such as Barrington and Northfield Townships in the far northern suburbs. The assessments in question were mostly on recent constructions that were characterized as vacant land.
An example is a home across the street from Denise Gilmore in Humbolt Park. An $843,000 two-story farmhouse built in 2021 remains characterized by Kaegi as vacant land and received a tax bill of just $750. At the same time, Gilmore has seen her tax bill on her brick worker’s style cottage balloon by more than 60% to $3319 this year. The assessed value was just increased by $60000 and Gilmore’s 2025 bill is going to hit even harder.
Kaegi was interviewed in June and said he is proud of what he and his office has done. Even though he has been in the office for six years, Fritz blames his predecessor for the inequities in the system.
https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2022/02/17/chicago-redlining-then-and-now