Update with additional information - June 26, 2018, 8:30 PM
Dear River Forest Residents,
This message clarifies the information that you received today regarding your second installment property tax bill. There was an important piece of data missing from that message.
Our property values in River Forest and most of the Cook County Western Suburbs increased on average roughly 20% because of the 2017 triennial reassessment of property. This represents the first substantive Village wide property assessment performed by Cook County Assessor’s Office since the recent 2008/09 recession and therefore, we will see an increase in our property values much like the market has increased over the last 9 years.
The important missing data is that the amount of money each taxing body levied (government taxes) against our assessed property did not increase 20%. In fact, our tax rate, the rate by which your assessed value is multiplied, decreased by 14%. In other words, there was not an increase in government spending that caused the change in property taxes, but an increase in the assessed value of our homes. In 2016 our composite tax rate was 11.476 and today our 2017 composite tax rate is now 9.884. A decrease of 14% in our tax rate.
If you believe the increase in the assessed value of your home is inaccurate please contact the River Forest Assessor’s Office for more information or consult a tax attorney. If you would like to view your property tax bill on the Cook County Treasurer’s website, click here.
The need for appropriate economic development and holding the cost on government spending is important to making River Forest a better community now and for our future generations.
To provide some additional context, 2017 average composite tax rates in surrounding communities are:
River Forest 9.884
Oak Park 12.204
Forest Park 11.381
Elmwood Park 10.596
City of Chicago 7.266
Thank you,
Cathy Adduci
Village President
Original message
Dear River Forest Residents,
On July 1, 2018, Cook County Treasurer’s Office will send each property owner their second installment of their property tax bill. This year, most River Forest residents will see an increase to their taxes of approximately 20% based on the recent triennial reassessment conducted by the Cook County Assessor. This represents the first substantive Village wide property assessment since the recent 2008/09 recession.
While it is encouraging that the values of our properties are increasing, it is always difficult to cut that check to the County Treasurer. This is a good time to explain in a little more detail how the property tax system in Illinois and Cook County works and why the Village talks a lot about economic development.
Each tax bill in River Forest includes nine separate entities that levy taxes to fund operations and meet their obligations including salaries and benefits, such as health insurance and pensions, maintenance of equipment and property, plus a myriad of programs and services each unit of government offers to our community.
Think of all property tax revenue collected from River Forest properties as a pie. Each year, taxing bodies ask for a piece of that pie to fund their services and obligations. The value of each property determines each owner’s “share” of the pie, or what you, the property owner, will pay to support public programs and services whether you use them or not.
In towns with strong commercial property bases, residential properties pay lower taxes, not because the government is asking for less money but because the commercial properties pick up a greater share of the tax. In primarily residential communities such as ours, homeowners shoulder a larger share of the property tax burden because they make up the majority of the property tax base.
A little more than 50 percent of properties in River Forest cannot be taxed. It is land owned by nonprofit organizations including two universities, the Cook County Forest Preserve District, religious institutions, schools, the library and the Community Center, which all provide valuable services to River Forest. In our community, less than half of all property can be taxed. Out of that taxable property, approximately 90 percent is residential and 10 percent is commercial. As a result, residential properties pay a majority of the taxes in River Forest.
It is important to understand how your taxes are calculated and how that relates to the importance of economic development. Every three years, the Cook County Assessor’s Office determines the value of every parcel of land. The calculation to determine your property taxes is an overly complicated one, but for this discussion, it is important to know a residential parcel is taxed at 10 percent of its value.
For example, if a home is valued at $500,000, the taxes paid are based off of a value of $50,000 ($500,000 X 10% = $50,000). In the case of a commercial property, the property is taxed at 25 percent of the value. A commercial property worth $500,000 has its taxes based off a value of a $125,000 ($500,000 X 25% = $125,000). A commercial property, in Cook County, will pay 15 percent more in taxes than a residential property with the same exact value. The property taxes paid by commercial properties are based off of a higher percentage of their value than residential properties.
River Forest is a landlocked community with very few opportunities to create new commercial development, so we must do what we can to get the highest and best use out of each commercial property. The strategic decision River Forest made in 1987 to create a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District along Lake Street was monumental. Because of that TIF, commercial land at Harlem Avenue and Lake Street now produces significantly more in property tax revenue than it did 30 years ago. If that development did not exist River Forest homeowners would pay more in taxes today than we already do.
Therefore, the Village must now focus on strengthening its commercial base. We recently approved a TIF District for the Madison Street corridor and are looking to do the same on North Avenue. Projects such as the mixed use development at Lake & Lathrop or the senior living facility at Chicago & Harlem help strengthen our tax base and stabilize our property tax bill – not to mention brining amenities to our community!
If you are interested in learning more about where your tax dollars are, visit the Village’s Community Portal by clicking here. This will provide you information not only about where your property taxes go (under property tax breakdown) but provide other useful information about your property.
If you have questions regarding your tax bill, please click here and contact the River Forest Assessor’s Office.
Sincerely,
Cathy Adduci
Village President