Oak Park and River Forest property owners received their triennial property tax reassessment notices from the county earlier this month.
As a whole, the tax values of commercial and residential properties in Oak Park increased by 25% on the median, according to Oak Park Township Accessor Ali El Saffar. But that doesn’t mean that residents’ property tax bills will actually increase by a fourth, El Saffar said.
“What we always have to educate most people about and it’s not their fault is that most people think that the property tax is like the sales tax or the income tax,” El Saffar said. “It doesn’t work that way. A lot of people think it does work that way in the property tax world like ‘if my assessed value has gone up by 25% therefore my taxes are going to go up by 25%.’ People get very nervous about that, understandably so, if that were actually the case, but it’s not.”
About a third of Oak Parker’s property tax bills actually went down even as the average property value in the village increased through 2023’s property value reassessment period, he said.
Residents will begin seeing the impact of the tax assessments in the summer of 2027, he said.
The rate of assessment increases differed slightly across property types, El Saffar said. While single-family homes’ value increased by about 24%, condos increased by 25% and townhomes increased by 11%. The value for apartment buildings rose by 28% while commercial properties increased by 21% on the median, El Saffar said.
The village’s average value increase will also likely shrink as residents go through the appeal process.
The first deadline to submit an appeal of the county’s property value assessment will be June 18. Property owners can base their appeals on things like similar properties with smaller increases, private appraisals and errors in the property conditions described in the county assessment.
If a property owner is unsatisfied with the results of a reassessment appeal, they can then plead their case to the Cook County Board of Review.
“The whole system has a bit of a squeaky wheel gets the grease quality,” El Saffar said. “So, if you’re concerned, the best thing to do is just sort of keep at it.”
Outgoing Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi stressed the importance of the appeal process in a recent letter to Wednesday Journal.
“I strongly encourage property owners to review their reassessment notice to ensure their property characteristics and market value reflect their home,” said Kaegi who is a long-time Oak Park resident. “It is important to understand that assessments in Cook County reflect market value over the last three years. My office will be hosting a virtual workshop to assist property owners and explain reassessments in their community.”