Midlothian’s village president has now taken homeowner exemptions on two properties under his name for three years in a row, despite what he says are efforts taken to correct the issue.
Gary L’ Heureux said he was made aware of double exemptions he took during the 2022 and 2023 tax years in October 2024, after being contacted by the Daily Southtown.
L’ Heureux said he took immediate action by contacting the Cook County assessor’s office, but the second exemption wasn’t removed. In what he said was a second attempt to remove the exemption, he submitted documentation to a county erroneous exemption specialist in December 2025, a certificate of completion shows.
But county property records continue to reflect that L’Heureux saved nearly $3,000 on his taxes for each of his homes across the 2022 and 2023 tax years. Records show he received exemptions on both homes in 2024 as well, reducing their equalized assessed values, but do not say how much he saved on his taxes for that year.
“Can’t be possible,” L’Heureux said in a text message last week. “I did everything I was supposed to do to get it removed.”
L’Heureux, who has been village president since 2017, previously told the Daily Southtown he lived at his single-story, 1,147-square-foot home on Lawndale Avenue for about 30 years before purchasing a larger home on Kildare Avenue.
“I can tell you with absolute certainty I filed to have the exemption removed from my other house,” L’Heureux said. “I don’t know why the county hasn’t removed it yet.”
L’Heureux’s tax exemption for his 1,630-square-foot Kildare home was automatically removed the year after he purchased it. He applied for a certificate of error to receive that exemption afterward, which took effect in 2022.
He said he thought the exemption would automatically be dropped on his Lawndale home as it was no longer considered his primary residence.
The Cook County assessor’s office did not respond to requests for information about L’Heureux’s double exemption.
“It just seems like it would be automatic that the homeowner’s exemption would be taken off of your secondary residence,” L’Heureux said in 2024. “Clearly, that doesn’t happen.”
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
