Illinois Public Act 100-0401, signed into law on August 25, 2017, will increase the value of the Senior Citizens and General Homestead Exemptions in Cook County starting in Tax Year 2017 (payment year 2018). It also increases the income limitation for the Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption (“Senior Freeze”) for all counties in Illinois and provides for a minimum exemption in…
In the wake of recently ordered bond court reforms, Cook County judges are seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the use of cash bail to keep defendants behind bars. Chief Judge Timothy Evans announced the changes on July 17, 2017. A week later, on July 24, the five Cook County Circuit Court judges named in the lawsuit filed motions to dismiss the case as moot on the grounds that the…
The Illinois Department of Revenue announced in April 2017 that the final equalization factor for the Cook County 2016 property assessment year (taxes payable in 2017) is 2.8032. The 2016 final equalization factor of 2.8032 is greater than the final 2015 equalization factor of 2.6685. This does not mean that individual property tax bills will go up or down. It means that, overall, the…
While Illinois lawmakers remain gridlocked over a State budget plan, another area shows promise of compromise in Springfield: government consolidation. With over 6,900 local government units, Illinois has more units of government than any other state. The multiplicity of local units of government, many of which are funded predominantly by property taxes, is often cited as a reason for high…
The Cook County Circuit Court recently ruled that the City of Chicago cannot tax other tobacco products according to Illinois state law. The City’s home rule tax on these products was expected to bring in $6.0 million in revenue. Other tobacco products (OTP) include the following non-cigarette tobacco products: Cigars; Pipe Tobacco; Smokeless Tobacco; and Smoking Tobacco. The Chicago…
The Cook County Board of Commissioners has reorganized its board meeting proceedings in an effort to streamline board meetings. Beginning in January 2017, the Consent Calendar portion of the meeting is now held on the second Tuesday of each month rather than the second Wednesday when County Board meetings are generally held. The change is intended to reduce excessively long meetings. The Consent…
Each year the Civic Federation releases an Estimated Effective Property Tax Rates report for 28 selected municipalities in northeastern Illinois. The most recent report looked at effective tax rates through tax year 2014 (for taxes paid in 2015), which was the most recent complete data available. This blog post shows how to calculate your municipality’s 2014 effective tax rate. How do I…
Click here to read the full report. This annual report compares estimated effective property tax rates in the six-county region of northeastern Illinois between 2005 and 2014, the last year for which data are available. Among the 12 selected Cook County communities, the Civic Federation found Harvey had the highest 2014 effective tax rate for residential properties at 7.71% in tax year…
The following are the five most read posts presented by the Civic Federation blog in 2016. These posts examine issues ranging from local government consolidation to pension funding reform. Cook County Electorate to Vote on Referendum to Merge the Recorder of Deeds with the County Clerk July 20, 2016 This post highlights an initiative long supported by the Civic Federation to merge the…
The Civic Federation recently released its second report that examines the unincorporated areas in Cook County. In the report, the Civic Federation identified a number of issues surrounding unincorporated areas that residents, municipalities, local governments, businesses and other stakeholders identified during the interviews conducted by the Federation. In addition to the formal interviews…
