Cook County Assessments Favor Wealthy At Poor's Expense: Study

CHICAGO — The residential property tax assessment system in Cook County effectively shifts wealth from poorer homeowners to richer ones, thanks in part to its remarkably high rate of appeals. Under Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios, assessed property values undervalue more expensive homes while overvaluing less valuable ones, according to an independent report released Thursday.

Especially in Chicago, the analysis determined the current process for figuring out the taxable value of a home ends up padding the pockets of property tax attorneys and the richest homeowners while fleecing owners of lower-priced homes — disproportionately penalizing black and Latino homeowners in Chicago's South and West sides.

The report was conducted by an independent expert for the Civic Consulting Alliance, a Chicago-based nonpartisan group. Berrios and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle commissioned the four-month report in response to a series of reports from Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois showing the inequities in the county's assessment system.

"Bringing the system into compliance with industry standards will require fundamental changes in modeling, review processes, data collection, and a shift away from reliance on appeals," the report said.

Cook County has a far higher level of property tax appeals compared to other jurisdictions, which serves to increase regressivity, according to the report.

Between 2014 and 2016, between 20 and 30 percent of all residential properties in the county appealed their value with the assessor, the board of review, or both, the report said. In the northern third of the county, 56 percent of newly reassessed values appealed their value.

That rate of appeals is more than 20 times higher than other comparable jurisdictions. And because owners of more expensive homes are far more likely to appeal the pattern has the effect of transferring wealth to richer homeowners.

Berrios said he was not responsible for the problems in the system. He said the problems highlighted in the report have existed for more than four decades and he's been trying to fix them. His "priority is to ensure that the assessment system is fair and equitable for every Cook County resident," he said in a statement Thursday.

The report found that the assessed value of the average home is 25 percent off its actual value, with even higher differences in predominantly black neighborhoods. Lake Township, on Chicago's West Side, was 44 percent off, and Calumet Township, in the south suburbs, was off by 50 percent, Crain's Chicago Business noted.

"I am committed to implementing all of the solutions identified as part of the analysis," said Berrios, who is also the head of the Cook County Democratic Party.

“Our goal, everyone's goal, is a fair and equitable residential property tax system,” Preckwinkle said at a briefing Thursday. She left before reporters could ask her any questions, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Reminiscing on Berrios' initial dismissal of its reporting – he claimed "the methods they advocate are unreliable" – the newspaper noted that the study the assessor co-sponsored ended up using the selfsame industry standards and methods.

Berrios' lone remaining Democratic opponent issued a statement in response to the report. (A third primary candidate, Andrea Raila, was removed from the ballot by the Cook County Electoral Board Thursday and plans to appeal in court.)

Fritz Kaegi said the report showed Berrios has indisputably failed. During his time in office, he has "focused on filling his own campaign coffers and serving the interests of clouted property tax attorneys" and rich landowners, he said.

“As Assessor, I will bring integrity, fairness and transparency to the Assessor’s office and end the nepotism, corruption and pay-to-play politics that have come to define Berrios’s tenure,” Kaegi said.

Read the complete report:

» Read more in the Chicago Tribune and Propublica Illinois series, "The Tax Divide," that prompted the report to be commissioned.