property taxes in Chicagoland (Naperville, Sheridan: home, construction, school district)

[pvande55]

Cook County residents complain about their property taxes but they would get really hosed if they moved to a collar county.
Illinois Property Taxes By County - 2014

[brian571]

Originally Posted by pvande55

Cook County residents complain about their property taxes but they would get really hosed if they moved to a collar county.
Illinois Property Taxes By County - 2014

What is it with Lake County taxes? Why are they so much higher than DuPage, for example? Is it that DuPage has more commercial real estate or that the school districts have much higher rates? The Lake County portion of my taxes isn't much. Always wondered why there's such a disparity between the collar counties...

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by BRU67

That is a complete misstatement of the law.

What is? Please elaborate.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by brian571

What is it with Lake County taxes? Why are they so much higher than DuPage, for example? Is it that DuPage has more commercial real estate or that the school districts have much higher rates? The Lake County portion of my taxes isn't much. Always wondered why there's such a disparity between the collar counties...

The worst towns in DuPage Co are probably places like Addison or West Chicago which despite being a whole lots less desirable than the county's nicest towns still are far from crime ridden / no-job kind of places. I actually work with a few folks that grew up in Addison and a nice younger guy that lives in the portion of West Chicago served by St. Charles schools, all in all pretty decent. Say what you will about strip malls, car dealers and fast food but the various commercial corridors of DuPage mostly are distributed in a ways that match the desires of food driving through to the kind of roadways that don't make too many parts of too many towns unlivable.

In contrast the extreme contrast of Waukegan or North Chicago against the palatial estates of Lake Forest makes for a stark reminder that the development patterns of that county differ dramatically. The land barons of Lake Co whether near Lake Michigan or along the tollroad, or farther inland seem to have less of a coordinated vision than more of a "avoid the worst spots" haphazard pattern. If you want a drive thru resturants and you are east of Greenbay Rd forget about it, but in Gurnee or Vernon Hills there are too many. Even more "middle of the road" parts of Gurnee have some of the hallmarks of towns that grew too fast, had to massively build up schools and similar services and abruptly hike taxes. The literal seasonal carnival type workers at Great American are not doing much to help support property values...

DuPage has grown more steadily, often with a fairly balanced approach to commerical and residential. The old line small business people that dominated local politics had a lot more good sense that either the very rich or very poor that Lake Co has had to deal with...

[MSchemist80]

Originally Posted by pvande55

Cook County residents complain about their property taxes but they would get really hosed if they moved to a collar county.
Illinois Property Taxes By County - 2014

I don't know where they got their numbers but my mother lives in Cook County, they claim her house is worth $350k (It is really worth about $300 even) and she pays $7500/year. It eats up more than 1/3 of her take home pay.

[oakparkdude]

The number is likely the arithmetic mean of all assessed residential properties in the county. Remember, Cook county is huge with something like a billion different taxing bodies. Obviously, there will be significant variation within municipalities, not to go all Chet on you, but places like Schaumburg with significant commercial tax base will have lower residential tax rates compared to some economically stricken south suburban towns. Also, the city of Chicago tends to have lower residential rates than the suburbs, and Chicago represents about half of Cook county.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by MSchemist80

I don't know where they got their numbers but my mother lives in Cook County, they claim her house is worth $350k (It is really worth about $300 even) and she pays $7500/year. It eats up more than 1/3 of her take home pay.

Ouch, that's pretty extreme at 2.5% of value. I would not call that a typical tax situation in Cook County, but she should go through the appeal process if it is out of whack with other properties in her area.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

Also, the city of Chicago tends to have lower residential rates than the suburbs, and Chicago represents about half of Cook county.

My property tax bill in the City of Chicago was 1.2% of the value of my home. Very low. We made sure to appeal it every time they re-assessed, though. That is totally worth the meager legal fee.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Look, there are towns where the property taxes are barely 1% of the current value of the home. Some of these towns have lots of homes under $400k. If you think $350/mo for schools and parks and cops and firefighters and libraries and the county courts and all they other ain't worth $11/day you should move. Seriously.

I have friends / relatives / business associates that will gladly tell you the horrible mess that Prop 13 has caused out in LaLa Land -- the schools generally stink, the cops are angry and susceptible to criminal influence, the firefighters are still pretty dedicated but if you get in a car wreck and need an ambulance ride except to bill for about a $1000...

Don't be stupid.

How do so many other states still manage an effective state government, without the loads of government debt and pension obligations, that Illnois and Chicagoland have? Some states don't have an income tax (and of those that do, some are lower than Illinois) and many don't have the high property taxes or as steep a sales tax as Illinois, but manage to cope just fine.

[MSchemist80]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Ouch, that's pretty extreme at 2.5% of value. I would not call that a typical tax situation in Cook County, but she should go through the appeal process if it is out of whack with other properties in her area.

Yep the worst part is we are paying Lake Co rates almost with none of the advantages. I bike ride frequently in Lake Co. THe difference is night and day. They have beautiful trails, and forest preserves, and facilities for dogs to romp arround, good libraries etc.

Cook county has dilapidated forest preseves with outhouse bathrooms, rotted wooden benches, and rusty picnic shacks and almost no dog facilities. The few there are charge a hefty membership fee and are total run down dumps. This even though they take in tons more money than the collar counties with the higher rates and abundance of commercial real estate in Chicago and some of the close in subburbs. Unfortunately the Cook County govt has a legacy of being a dumping ground for useless policial cronies to have high paying well benefited jobs.