Cook County is considering offering one-time payments of $1,000 to residents who have had the biggest hikes in their property tax bills.
The county has budgeted $15 million for the program this year, which would benefit about 13,600 people. The county estimates that about 112,000 households are eligible.
Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, a North Side Democrat, is leading the effort.
“There are tens of thousands of people that have had a property tax increase of 50%,” Gainer said. “This is a systemic issue of the unpredictability.”
The payments would be part of the county’s homeowner relief fund that commissioners approved creating last fall. Now they are shaping what the program would look like, such as who would be eligible and how much they would receive.
A proposed resolution shows the county estimates it will cost $1.4 million to administer the new program. On Thursday, the board is expected to consider a contract with the Denver-based company AidKit to run the program, county records show. AidKit would develop the application and website, review applications and pick applicants to receive payments.
The proposed eligibility requirements are having a household income at or below 100% of the area median income for an applicant’s household size, and having a property tax bill that increased by 50% or more in any year since the 2021 tax year.
AidKit might use a lottery system to select applicants, county records show, similar to the one used for the county’s guaranteed income pilot program.
The drumbeat around rising property tax bills that are pricing people out of their homes and neighborhoods is constant. Last spring, Gainer and her staff had hundreds of meetings with homeowners, helping them appeal their property taxes or fill out forms, she said.
“We’ve done those same type of meetings for years and have not seen the kind of level of fear, concern, real panic about, ‘Am I going to be able to afford to stay in my house?’ ” Gainer recalled.
For some people who have a mortgage, for example, it immediately goes up every month when their property tax bill climbs. That factored into how much the county would provide as relief. Gainer acknowledged $1,000 might not be enough for many homeowners, but she sees it as a bridge that would help cover at least a portion of a more expensive monthly mortgage payments as homeowners figure out how to pay their bigger bills.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle shared the sentiment.
“We don’t have enough money to do everything we want to the extent maybe we want to do it,” Preckwinkle said. “This is a beginning.”
Gainer and others in the county worked with the University of Chicago to understand who had a sharp increase in property taxes they weren’t expecting and who was most vulnerable. They found that older adults struggle in particular, as well as residents who live in gentrifying neighborhoods and those who live in the south suburbs, where the commercial property tax base has dwindled.
The county treasurer’s office has also been digging into who is shouldering the tax burden.
In 2023, in suburbs south of North Avenue, the median tax bill climbed nearly 20% — the largest increase for any area reassessed in Cook County in almost 30 years, the treasurer’s office found.
Gainer acknowledged the homeowner relief fund is a short-term fix — it would only last this year — but said she hopes the money not only gives people urgent relief, but also pushes lawmakers in Springfield to pass longer-term property tax reform.
The county would hopefully learn more about the hardships homeowners face based on information in their applications for the one-time payments, Gainer said.
If approved by the County Board, Gainer hopes applications for the fund are available in June and quickly approved, so money flows to homeowners in time for their next property tax bill.
Kristen Schorsch covers public health and Cook County for WBEZ.
