Village of Park Forest officials have been closely monitoring recent developments related to property taxes in Cook County. Over the past three years, the Village has been addressing challenges associated with the property value assessment practices of the Cook County Assessor’s Office. Village efforts have included numerous meetings with Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi and his staff to discuss these issues. A primary concern is the apparent decline in Park Forest’s assessed value without clear justification.
To be very clear, the Village of Park Forest DID NOT RAISE COOK COUNTY PROPERTY TAXES! Nor do we have the power to . . . In this case, what we are seeing are the results of decisions made by the Cook County Assessor's Office. Despite this fact, we the Village have advocated for and have been on the forefront of sounding the alarm to what we knew would be a catastrophic situation for our residents, as well as the Southland. Residents are meant to be in residences, not to be pushed out of them. Our efforts thus far have brought about some positive results as it relates to our overall tax rate. To this end, the Village’s tax rate in the School District 163 portion of the community has been reduced from 46% to 24%. Also, the Village has worked diligently to achieve equity in shouldering the property tax burden. Over the past few years, between 1,500 to 2,000 properties in Park Forest had a nominal property tax bill of less than $750. Furthermore, nearly half of these properties had tax bills at the astonishing amount of $0. I trust that everyone would agree with me that a $0 tax bill is totally unrealistic. Additionally, such drastically low tax bills have unfairly shifted the tax burden to other tax payers in Park Forest. Those residents have seen tax bills in excess of $10,000, $12,000, or more, up to as high as $17,000. Recent tax bills have resulted in an increase in approximately 3,800 residential tax bills while nearly 900 homes in Park Forest have seen decreases in their tax bills. It could be said that this data reflects efforts toward equity in tax bills for all Park Foresters.
The unpredictability in assessed value, along with decreased commercial/industrial values and high exemptions, has shifted the tax burden to residents. Despite these challenges, the Village has maintained a fiscally conservative approach to its tax levy. The Park Forest Board of Trustees has had a 0% increase in the property tax levy in each of the past 3 years. Furthermore, from 2017 to 2023, the Village’s tax levy changes are as follows:
- 2017: 1.5%
- 2018: 0%
- 2019: 2.0%
- 2020: 0.85%
- 2021: 0%
- 2022: 0%
- 2023: 0%
The cumulative increase over these seven years is 4.35%, averaging 0.621% per year. This demonstrates the Village’s commitment to fiscal responsibility.
All of the aforementioned being stated, there is still much more work to be done to right the wrongs of the current property tax system in Cook County. Village Officials are currently reviewing hundreds, if not thousands, of property tax bills to further analyze the methodology and the impacts in Park Forest. While we see the efforts of the Assessor’s Office toward property tax equity, there are several hundred tax bills that the Village believes will need additional investigation and analysis. This includes residential tax bills and commercial tax bills.
The Village of Park Forest will continue to explore options and possible solutions with the Assessor's Office, the Cook County Board of Review, as well as in Springfield. Please continue to watch the Village of Park Forest website for more information as it is available.