In March, the Rev. Walter McCray, a West Garfield Park resident and the pastor of Greater Union Baptist Church on the West Side, was billed $818.76 for the first installment of his property taxes.
In December, he was billed more than $4,236, his property assessment nearly tripling after he rebuilt his front porch.
And he’s not alone.
Last year, the median homeowner tax bill in McCray’s neighborhood increased nearly $2,000, or 133%; neighboring North Lawndale and Englewood saw 92% and 88% increases respectively.
McCray was among the faith leaders from the South and West sides who held a news conference outside Trump Tower on Monday morning. Trump Tower has received a number of tax breaks over the years, and the clergy members say it’s a symbol of the country’s oligarchic class.
They called for a rollback to last year’s tax rates and a freeze until a solution is found and called on the state Legislature to cap the amount property taxes can be increased year over year.
“There’s something sinful about this,” McCray said.
Residential property tax bills are rising fastest in predominantly Black neighborhoods on the South and West sides because the county’s tax burden is being shifted away from the economic center of the city, according to a Cook County treasurer’s office report last month and a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of five years of tax bills. Other neighborhoods, such as Pilsen, have seen similar increases and the ensuing struggles that have led to similar calls for action in recent years.
The county has said the pandemic reduced occupancy in many Downtown buildings, leading to the reductions in assessed values. Businesses’ tax bills dropped nearly 20% as residential bills increased by more than 16% during the 2021 to 2023 reassessment cycle, according to the Cook County treasurer’s office, though hundreds of thousands of homeowners saw even larger increases.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi called the increases “flat-out unfair” and voiced his support for “circuit breaker” bills in the Legislature, which the clergy and Board of Review Commissioner George Cardenas also back.
A “circuit breaker” bill in the Illinois Senate would grant up to $5,000 in property tax relief for residents in properties valued below $350,000 who earn less than the state median adjusted gross income. A similar bill was introduced in the House.
Kaegi blames the Board of Review for the increases, saying in a statement Monday that the hikes were the “direct result of huge cuts that the Board of Review commissioners gave to large corporations.”
In a separate statement, the Board of Review pointed to Kaegi’s office, saying it implemented “excessive assessment increases” across the board that were “overly aggressive” and “simply incorrect.”
The clergy members accused the assessor’s office and Board of Review of pointing fingers instead of finding solutions.
In a study of tax appeals released early last year, the treasurer’s office said a broken appeals system — where wealthy white home and business owners got the most breaks from the board because they tend to appeal more frequently and have money for lawyers and other resources to wage appeals — was contributing. In previous studies, the treasurer’s office found that both the Board of Review and assessor’s office had been off the mark in prior years, leading to more drastic variations in adjustments.
But no matter who carries the blame, McCray said homeowners are looking for relief as more of them are facing the prospect of being put out of their homes.
McCray said his parents were some of the first Black residents to move to the neighborhood. He and others like him stand to lose, in some cases, the only generational wealth they have.
McCray says that he might be exempt from the hike because he’s eligible for a senior freeze, but he’s concerned for others in the community.
“What about those who don’t qualify? They only have a couple of choices.
“They’re waiting to snatch it up from legacy homeowners,” McCray said. “It just goes to the highest bidder, those who have money, waiting around to take advantage of what’s going on in Garfield. … This is the strategy of land grabbers.”
