Good morning, Chicago. Denise Gilmore feels like she’s being taxed out of Humboldt Park. She and her husband, Willie, have lived on Pierce Avenue since 2010, but in 14 years their property tax bill has ballooned more than 60%.
Taxes could hit even harder next year after Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office increased the home’s value by $60,000. But some of the Gilmores’ neighbors — whose homes are significantly newer and worth much more — haven’t felt the same pain. That’s in large part because Kaegi’s office regularly misclassifies and undervalues properties throughout Cook County, an Illinois Answers Project and Chicago Tribune investigation found.
Across the street from the Gilmores, an $843,000 two-story farmhouse built in 2021 continues to be categorized by Kaegi’s office as vacant land worth only $44,280. The new homeowners’ 2024 tax bill is only $750. Kaegi’s administration has known about the problem almost since the day he was sworn into office nearly six years ago.
Still, he has not addressed the issue on a systemic level. So the Tribune and Illinois Answers conducted its own partial audit using the same tools Kaegi’s office has at its disposal. Following a nine-month investigation, @illinoisanswers and the Tribune found Kaegi’s office missed at least $444 million in value from a combined 620 properties during the 2023 tax year.
The missed properties can be found across the county, from an $11 million mansion on the North Shore to sw.