Five Questions with a Property Tax Whiz: Dan Patlak

Patch catches up with the Cook County Board of Review Commissioner before he hosts a seminar in Northfield Township next week.

Do all those property tax numbers make your eyes squint? If you're looking for some clarity, you're in luck. Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Dan Patlak will host a property tax seminar in Northfield Township on Wednesday, Jan. 11. The event is at 7 p.m. at the Bernard Weinger Jewish Community Center, 300 Revere Dr. in Northbrook. Patch talked with Patlak to learn more about the seminars. Related: Understanding Your Cook County Property Taxes Patch: Why is it important for residents to attend the property tax seminars? Patlak: No one should pay more than their fair share of taxes. Therefore, any property owner who believes they may be overassessed owes it to themselves to attend a Board of Review Assessment Appeal Seminar to find …

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Making Sense of Your Property Tax

Photo Gallery: A Peek Inside the Cook County Board of Review

Tucked away on the sixth floor of the Cook County building, the county's Board of Review office is a place most people don't know about until compelled by the appeal process.

Click through the photos above for an inside glimpse into the world of property taxes at the Cook County Board of Review. This additional office is unique to Cook County's property tax system in the state of Illinois. Created as an extra layer of appeals for the property taxpayer, the board is comprised of three elected commissioners and their staff. One commissioner, Daniel Patlak, took some time to give Patch a personal tour for our property tax series, "Making Sense of Your Property Tax."

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Making Sense of Your Property Tax

Exemptions 'Tinker' with Your Homeowner Property Tax

In Day Three of our series, Patch explains the reasons why you may be paying more than your neighbor in residential property tax.

Scott Bagnall, a township assessor and attorney, is good at listening. It’s his job at the Niles Township Tax Assessor’s Office, one of the 30 such offices around Cook County. For instance, he listened intently when a resident came into his office a few years ago wondering why he was paying 27 percent more on his home property taxes than his neighbor was on a similar house three doors down on Jarvis Avenue in Lincolnwood. Both homes were assessed at similar values of $124,000 and $127,000, yet the man in Bagnall’s office was looking at an extra $1,200 in taxes. Bagnall’s answer: It came down to exemptions. The neighbor had applied for and received an exemption for Cook County residents who have occupied their homes for 10 continual years. …

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Making Sense of Your Property Tax

Effects of Cook County Property Taxes on Business

In Day Two, Patch unpacks the impacts of the classified tax system on businesses, through the lens of one business owner.

Joel Byron, 51, was hunched over tiny numbers in the back office of his business property, a one-window storefront in the northwest suburbs. Surrounded by stacks of papers, the small business owner thumbed his way through records of correspondence with the Cook County Tax Assessor’s Office like pages in a family photo album. “Here’s a letter from October,” he said. “Oh, wait! Here’s the one from November. … This one is mine again. … And here’s the follow-up response two weeks later.” To small business owners like Byron, the amount they owe in property taxes each year is not just one more line item in their operating budget. Due to the complex tiered system unique to Cook County, it can single-handedly cripple them. Part of the reason is …

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Cook County Raises Village Property Tax Rate By 3.4 Percent

Glenview’s new tax rate reflects a 6.4 percent increase in the tax levy passed by the Village Board in December 2009.

Village of Glenview property tax rates have risen to .0362 percent – a 3.4 percent increase over last year's levy of .035 percent, Cook County announced Nov. 8. That means the owner of a $382,500 property—the current median sales price for homes in Glenview—will pay $394, an increase of $13 over last year to fund village operations. The boost reflects a 6.64 percent increase in funding passed by the Village Board in December 2009 and assumes a $20,000 maximum in property tax exemption. In 2008 the maximum deduction in Cook County was $26,000 – a $6,000 decrease from last year. But that's just one piece of a complex puzzle. The average homeowner's property taxes are comprised of any number of supplementary taxes from school district levies …

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