The second installment of 2024 Cook County property tax bills are due Dec. 15, with bills beginning to be mailed Nov. 14, county officials announced Friday — months after the bills are typically sent.
The county conducted a “critical overhaul” of its property tax computer system, causing an extensive delay to the county’s property tax timeline, according to a statement from Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office.
Second installment bills are typically mailed in July, with a due date in August.
Under a state law passed last month, Cook County’s first installment of the 2025 property tax bill will be due by April 1 at the earliest, which is about a month later than usual.
Preckwinkle’s office, which has “no statutory role in the administration of the tax bills,” has been meeting with a working group of property tax stakeholders to return the tax bill timeline to its regular schedule, her office said.
Anticipating the delay in issuing property tax bills, the county launched a $300 million, zero interest “bridge loan” program for local taxing bodies to tap into to offset any lost revenue from the absence of property tax payments.
In total, the county is distributing more than $20 million to nearly 20 local taxing jurisdictions through the program, according to county officials.
Cook County’s 1.8 million property owners can make payments to the county treasurer’s office online at cookcountytreasurer.com.
Failing to pay on time will result in a late fee of 0.75% per month.
The Cook County Assessor’s Office reassess properties every three years by determining a market value of a property. That value is then converted into an assessed value, which is usually 10% of the market value for residential property and 25% of the market value for commercial property.
For 2024, the total assessed value of property in Chicago was $50.8 billion, an increase of $9.5 billion or 23% from 2023. Commercial property increased in value more than residential property, so homeowners’ share of the tax base dropped from 51% to 49%, according to the assessor’s office.