If you’re an Oak Parker and your head is spinning because you’re totally confused about your property taxes, don’t fret, because you’re not alone.
“I don’t think we’ve ever been this busy,” said Oak Park Township assessor Ali ElSaffar. “This is the most complicated tax situation Oak Park has ever dealt with.”
On March 1, Oak Park property owners began receiving reassessment notices from the Cook County Assessor’s office reflecting the assessor’s estimate of village property values as of Jan. 1. The median Oak Park assessed value for residential properties increased by about 24 percent, said ElSaffar.
In Cook County, townships are reassessed once every three years, said ElSaffar, and this year, home values are sort of playing catch up. During the Great Recession, home prices fell, and the 2011 reassessment saw the value of Oak Park residential properties fall by 11 percent, said ElSaffar. When Oak Park was last reassessed in 2014, home prices had stabilized, but condo prices were still falling, he said.
“The 2014 assessments didn’t reflect any recovery, but in 2017 they’ve really taken off,” said ElSaffar. “The new assessments reflect how the market has recovered.”
For those worrying about your tax increase, be aware that state law generally prohibits tax increases that are greater than the rate of inflation, ElSaffar said. Thus if inflation is 2 percent per year, governments can usually raise their levies no higher than 2 percent.
But the law limiting levy increases to the rate of inflation can be overridden by a referendum, and that’s what makes this all so convoluted. This year, besides the reassessment, Oak Park’s Elementary School District 97 is seeking approval for $13 million in two separate referendums, an operations referendum and a facilities referendum, both of which will be voted on April 4.
“The impact of each referendum on tax bills is somewhat complicated,” said ElSaffar. “The most important thing to understand is that if the operations referendum is approved, I estimate that this year’s local taxes will be about 9 percent higher than last year. If the operations referendum fails, I estimate that this year’s taxes will rise by about 2 percent.”
If District 97’s operations referendum is successful, the impact will appear on property tax bills paid this summer, said ElSaffar. In the summer of 2018, the reassessment will impact tax bills. And the effect of the facilities referendum will not appear on tax bills until the summer of 2019, he said.
Last year’s taxes increased 7.5 percent due to a levy for the high school, and this year, the reassessment and referendum is causing a lot of people anxiety, said ElSaffar.
“We don’t know where it’s all going to end up,” he said.
It’s all so complex that the Oak Park Board of Realtors asked ElSaffar to speak on the tax appeal process and referendum, which he will do from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. March 10, at the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake St. ElSaffar said he will also hold another forum in the near future, with the date and time to be announced.
It boils down to two basics, said ElSaffar. One — impacted by the referendums — is how much money does local government want, as every house pays a small share of the local tax levies.
The second matter is the reassessment, said ElSaffar. He estimates that Oak Park’s overall increase, after assessment appeals are complete, will be about 20 percent.
“It’s a difficult and confusing set of issues,” said ElSaffar. “There’s a lot of uncertainty. There are already high taxes, and this creates angst and uncertainty that results in everybody calling my office.”
The Cook County Assessor’s office will be accepting appeals from Oak Park property owners through April 3. Homeowners needing help filing appeals can call the Oak Park Township Assessor’s office at 708-383-8005 for an appeal appointment. You can also find appeal information at www.cookcountyassessor.com.
Felicia Dechter is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.
