Property owners in Chicago neighborhoods slammed with big bill increases have come up short paying them in full, according to a new analysis of collection rates by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office, measured roughly a month and a half after the due date.
In the Riverdale community area on the Far South Side, homeowners’ bills went up by 65% and collections dropped by 11.1%, to 68.5%, the analysis found. In West Garfield Park, where bills more than doubled, residential collections were down 4.1%.
Some south suburban communities with traditionally low collection rates saw major improvements as well, the report found.
The biggest drops countywide were in areas where the median household income was below $50,000. Those includes Englewood and North Lawndale, where collections fell by just over 3%.
Property taxes have been a hot-button issue in several campaigns this year, especially in the Democratic primary for Cook County assessor, where some leaders in hard-hit neighborhoods have endorsed challenger Pat Hynes over incumbent Fritz Kaegi.
The shortfall means little for Chicago’s overall budget, but could mean homeowners rack up additional charges: Property owners who pay late are subject 0.75% interest added per month (up to 9% per year) on the unpaid amount.
One in 10 homeowners made partial payments — which helps cut down on interest charges — in 14 hard-hit community areas. In West Garfield Park, more than 15% made partial payments.
The report covers the previous round of tax bills that were due in mid-December. Those were due months later than usual, potentially giving homeowners more time to save for their payment, the report noted. But people who had trouble paying those December bills could also have trouble making good on the next bills due April 1, or the one after that, currently due Aug. 1.
In all, residential collections fell in 11 of the 13 community areas with the highest tax increases in 2024, the analysis found.
While those percentages were down, because bills were so much higher than last year, homeowners still paid more overall, the analysis found. The countywide collection rate stood at 96%, about the same amount it’s been for roughly the past decade.
Even in the south suburbs, which have had the lowest collection rates of the county’s three assessment regions, collections climbed to 94.2%, the highest level in 10 years, according to the treasurer’s analysis. The city’s rate is 96.3% and the north suburbs are at 94%.
While seeing some improvements compared to last year, many south suburban cities and villages “still had very low collection rates that imperil their overall finances and make it difficult to deliver adequate services,” the report found.
Ford Heights, for example, had a collection rate of 46% — up 17.4% from the year before. It still has the lowest collection rate in the county. Dixmoor’s collection rate was 74%, up nearly 11% from the year before — the second-biggest hike of any suburban municipality. And Park Forest’s collection rate was nearly 89%, up about 9.6% from the year before.
Similar to Chicago this year, low-income areas in the south suburbs saw big bill hikes and hits to its collection rate for the 2023 tax year.
Lower-income south suburban communities “had the steepest collection falloffs in 2024,” the report noted, where homeowner bills increased by 27%. Those lowest-income areas had the biggest bounce-back in bill payment in 2024.
Commercial and industrial properties’ collection rates both improved by more than 1%, bringing them up to or better than their historical norms.
The collection rates on commercial and industrial properties both improved by more than 1%, bringing those collections up to, or better than, historical norms, the report said.
