Friday, January 6, 2012
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 …
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
That's the deadline for Maine Township properties.
If you live in Maine Township, Wednesday is the last day you can take action to possibly lower your Fall 2012 property taxes. If you miss it, you can file a property tax appeal next spring, but that would affect your Fall 2013 property taxes. To file a property tax appeal in time for this week's deadline, you can go in person to the Cook County Board of Review offices in Skokie or Rolling Meadows, file online or send a form postmarked by Wednesday, Nov. 16. Earlier: Property tax expert gives tips on how to win appeals You can also visit the Maine Township Assessor's office at 1700 Ballard Road, Park Ridge, and they will assist you in filling out forms. However, it is now too late to file your appeal with them. "We had lines out the door …
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
School board accepts 2011-12 plan that calls for a nearly 5 percent hike in spending.
Budgeting for the 2011-12 fiscal year, District 225 administrators are already bracing for a big drop in state funding. In the $97 million tentative budget adopted Monday night, the district has decreased its reliance on state funds and increased its reliance on local funds, according to a press release. Just 5 percent of funding this fiscal year will come from the state and federal government—as compared to the average Illinois school district, which receives roughly 38 percent of its funding from the state and 9 percent from federal sources. “Our district remains fiscally solvent by maintaining a conservative budget approach and through our continued commitment to cost reduction strategies,” Assistant Superintendent for Business Hillarie…
Friday, April 1, 2011
In Day Five of our series, Patch shares what elected officials and advocates wish Cook County residents would do.
Seven years ago, Karim Chatriwala turned the key to open his version of the American Dream. The Pakistani immigrant opened up a Subway sandwich storefront in Morton Grove, a north suburb of Chicago, where he lives with his wife, two children and parents. With a wide network of friends and a place of worship right down the street, Chatriwala says the community has a lot to offer. But the business owner also said that if his property taxes do not decrease, his increasing debt might force him to move away. He estimates he pays $1,200 per month and is barely keeping afloat. So Chatriwala went to his local township assessor’s office, seeking advice and raising concern. The assessor and his deputy answered his questions, and gave him information…
Thursday, March 31, 2011
In Day Four of our series, Patch gives you the inside scoop on powerful organizations you may not know exist within the world of property taxes.
At lunchtime on a windy Wednesday in December, the movers and shakers of a northern Chicago suburb met at an elementary school with two attorneys and a couple pizza pies. You could call it a property tax pizza party, though the pizza came after the paperwork. It was time for the Property Tax Appeals Cooperative (PTAC) meeting, a semi-annual gathering for local taxing bodies in Niles Township that began in 1998. The cooperative, which includes about 15 school districts, public libraries, park districts and village governments, is trying to ensure that they get all the local tax money they believe they deserve. Groups such as Niles’ PTAC hire attorneys in the area to oppose businessowners’ property tax appeals. When banks, shopping malls, or…
In Day Four of our series, Patch gives you the inside scoop on powerful organizations you may not know exist within the world of property taxes.
Check out the video with Robert Porter, a former township supervisor who serves as a representative for the township assessors. He attends the CCTAA meetings and provides updates on the property tax system as a whole. For $300 a year, township assessors in Cook County share lunch nine times a year with their township counterparts as part of the Cook County Township Assessors' Association (CCTAA). With 30 townships in the county, the CCTAA offers a meeting place for the people’s advocates to debate, learn and teach property tax information, as a branch of the umbrella organization Township Officials of Cook County. “Since the 1960s, assessors have been meeting about nine times a year for training,” said CCTAA President Ali ElSaffar, who is …
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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 …
Monday, March 28, 2011
In this week-long series, Patch takes Cook County property owners on an adventure into the world of taxes and their impact on you.
When your property tax bill arrives in your mailbox, chances are you’ll be squinting to figure out the difference between your property value, your assessed property value and your equalized assessed property value. After about four months of poking around the Cook County property tax system, one thing is clear here at Patch: It’s confusing, complex, and unwieldy, so much so that there’s not one particular kink in the system that we can point our fingers at to say, “aha, here’s the problem!” And it’s not just us. Ask elected officials, the county assessor’s spokesperson, the local township assessors, and they all agree it's too complex. As Robert Porter, a former township supervisor, put it: “It’s like a car slamming into a wall at 60 mph…
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
According to a group of Cook County assessors, ballot calculations of District 31's proposed tax increase do not accurately reflect the impact if the measure passes.
The figures on the ballot for West Northfield School District 31’s tax referendum are misleading, according to a group of Cook County assessors. That’s because, along with other school, fire protection and library districts with referenda on the April 5 ballot, District 31 did not estimate its proposed tax increase using a countywide multiplier that is ultimately applied to all taxpayer’s bills, according to Ali ElSaffar, president of the Cook County Township Assessors Association and Oak Park Township Assessor. Without the multiplier included in calculations, the ballot figures could be underestimated as much as 70 percent, he explained. “Personally, I’m not saying I’m in favor or against any of these referendums, but I do think people …
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
For the fourth year in a row, GBS did not meet performance standards as mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act.
If you use this year's state report cards as a measure of success, Glenbrook South is an academic standout in Illinois—but it's not quite making the grade. Released this week, the 2009-2010 report cards show that as a whole, GBS is head and shoulders above most schools in Illinois when it comes to measures including graduation rate and ACT scores. But, the state has also identified GBS as a school needing improvement. According to the state's report card, economically disadvantaged students and Asian students did not make adequate progress on state tests compared with last year's scores. These yearly improvement figures are based on standards set by the No Child Left Behind Act. This year, Asian students missed the mark in reading while …
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Glenbrook South High School
4000 W Lake Ave, Glenview, IL
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Dan
5:38 pm on Saturday, January 7, 2012
After having worked as a property assessment analyst for eight years under Commissioner Maureen Murphy, and being the Wheeling Township Assessor for about 5 years, it is reassuring to know that we have a very qualified Commissioner representing the 1st District to the Board of Review. Thank you for looking out for homeowners through these seminars and making every effort to be transparent! Keep … more ›