Illinois Answers Project

Alex Nitkin

Alex Nitkin is the government finance & accountability reporter at Illinois Answers Project, which is published by the Better Government Association.

An airplane flies near the EdgeConneX data center campus, right, on July 22, 2026, in Elk Grove Village. Two of the company’s data centers near O’Hare International Airport were the subject of property tax appeals battles this year brought by the Cook County assessor. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Data centers near O’Hare win nearly $100M in local tax breaks, leaving suburban homeowners to cover the gap

August 23, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Northwest suburban data centers had nearly $2 billion knocked off their taxable property values, an Illinois Answers Project/Chicago Tribune analysis shows.

People arrive at the Cook County assessor’s office in Chicago on June 26, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Data centers and tax breaks: How we reported the story

August 23, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Here's how the Illinois Answers Project and the Chicago Tribune reported the story about how data centers near O’Hare airport won nearly $100 million in local tax breaks, leaving suburban...

Melvin Brooks’ house in Bellwood, April 24, 2026. He is one of several Cook County taxpayers who still hasn't received their bill from last year.

Months after late property tax bills, thousands are still waiting with no resolution in sight

April 26, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Thousands of Cook County property owners are still waiting for bills they should have received last year, and tens of thousands are waiting for tax refunds.

Audrey Pierce, 71, stands by her three-flat in North Lawndale on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. She saw her property tax bill for the building more than double this year. “To put it mildly, I’m very pissed off,” she said. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Record property tax increases slam Chicago homeowners as downtown owners see cuts

April 24, 2026 at 10:04 a.m.

Sinking Loop office values fuel spike in Chicago residential bills, especially on South, West sides, report shows.

Residential properties throughout the South and West sides, like these shown on Sept. 18, 2025 on West End Avenue in West Garfield Park, had their property assessments double or even triple last year. Those higher assessments will likely help trigger steep hikes in property tax bills for homeowners in the neighborhoods. Experts, and officials with the Cook County assessor's office that produced the new figures, said the higher valuations are being partly driven by investors who have flocked to the few neighborhoods where real estate is still affordable. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Brace for impact: Tax hikes loom for South, West Side homeowners

October 2, 2025 at 6:13 p.m.

Property assessments double for 37,000 homes in Chicago’s historically neglected neighborhoods amid fresh investor interest.

Raphael Espinoza, left, and Skylar Damiano play with their cat, Patch, in the kitchen of their Humboldt Park home on March 6, 2025. For about two and a half years, the two have lived in their newly constructed house, which has been taxed erroneously as a vacant side lot. The assessor's office assured them the property assessment will be updated and that they won't have to pay back taxes. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Cook County assessor fixes hundreds of misclassified properties following Tribune-Illinois Answers investigation

March 16, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Following a Tribune-Illinois Answers Project report, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office is fixing hundreds of properties it misclassified.

Denise Gilmore sits on the front porch of her Humboldt Park home with granddaughters, Mylah Collins, 4, left, and Capri Douglas, 2, on June 7, 2024. (Vincent Alban/Chicago Tribune)

Luxury home or vacant lot? Cook County assessor misclassifies hundreds of properties, missing $444M in one year alone

August 16, 2024 at 4:42 p.m.

An investigation by the Illinois Answers Project and the Chicago Tribune found Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office missed critical data from at least 620 properties in 2023, with big implications for...

The Cook County Assessor's Office released its reassessment notices for residential properties in Evanston Township in April. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

How we reported on Cook County assessment errors

August 4, 2024 at 3:11 p.m.

Reporters from Illinois Answers Project and the Chicago Tribune collected and analyzed thousands of points of data to track down where the Cook County assessor misclassified hundreds of properties.

Snow blankets the 4000 block of West Potomac Avenue in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood in January. Last year, four children were pulled from a fire in a unit where there was no working smoke alarm. All four later died.

Smoke detectors save lives, but Chicago has slow-walked efforts to toughen rules

June 14, 2024 at 6:43 p.m.

Just before midnight on a drizzly evening last June, Nicolas Mendoza parked his truck in front of his West Humboldt Park home and climbed his stoop after a late shift...

Eric Patton Smith, shown in 2020, pushed the city to toughen its safety regulations and improve enforcement after his 7-year-old daughter died in a fire at a South Side apartment with no smoke detector.

Fires continue to kill people in unsafe buildings as Chicago ignores problems with its inspection system

June 14, 2024 at 6:43 p.m.

Larry Burns had been planning a wedding reception last May in Mississippi and was looking forward to his mother coming from her home in Chicago's Austin neighborhood. A smart, fashionable...

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