Local Tax Issues

Over 500,000 Cook County Seniors Are Missing Out on Property Tax Exemptions

Over 500,000 Cook County Seniors Are Missing Out on Property Tax Exemptions

Over 500,000 senior citizens in Cook County, Illinois are missing out on property tax exemptions. Cook County, which includes Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, has a population of 5.17 million as of the 2020 United States census. The county is home to over 40% of all Illinois residents.

According to a new report from FOX 32 Chicago, the county's pandemic-era automatic property tax exemption renewals ended this year. This means that homeowners over age 65 must once again resume annual filings for the Low-Income Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze. The "Senior Freeze," as it is commonly called, offers a property tax exemption by freezing the equalized assessed value (EAV) of eligible residential properties.

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Credit: Nisian Hughes/Getty Images

It is worth noting that the freeze only maintains the EAV at a fixed amount in an effort to keep the property assessment as low as possible. It does NOT freeze the actual amount of a homeowner's tax bill.

Senior homeowners are eligible for this exemption if they are over 65 and have a total household annual income of $65,000 or less. 

Cook County homeowners have faced a barrage of issues related to property taxes in the last year or so. During last November's tax sale, over 55,000 properties were on the auction block, with many priced under $1,000.

Also last fall, homeowners in the Chicago metro area faced a property tax nightmare when refunds were delayed by months due to infighting between two city officials. 

According to an April 2022 report from local PBS affiliate WTTW, this delay was decidedly not strategically planned like deadline delays during COVID-19. In 2021, then-new Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi used a different formula than his predecessor to determine property values in the region, which led to internal disagreements. Cook County officials reassess these valuations every three years.

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Credit: franckreporter/Getty Images

Typically, property tax bills would have been mailed in June and July, with a due date of August 1. Last year, per a new article from Axios Chicago, the second installment of the 2021 Cook County property taxes was not expected to be delivered until December 1, with a due date of December 31, 2022.

This meant that anyone who had issues with delivery could not write-off their payments on their 2022 taxes. 

Do you and your loved ones need to apply for the Low-Income Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze?

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Feature Image Credit: JC Bonassin/Getty Images

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Rebekah Barton

Rebekah Barton

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