Pilsen homeowners shocked by big property tax bill increases
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Cook County Tax Assessor felt the heat from homeowners on Friday in Pilsen when they came face to face for a meeting to talk about recent increases in property taxes.
Both sides agreed a solution needs to be made before longtime residents are forced out. CBS 2's Andrew Ramos had the story.
The goal of Friday's meeting was to allow residents to give testimony about the impact new tax assessments is having on their households. While many are hopeful that the county's tax assessor will come through with a solution, others are skeptical.
Homeowner Jolie Jiminez said there's nothing that could've prepared her for the moment she opened up her tax bill.
"Once I opened it, and I saw the installment, I almost passed out," said Jimenez. "I actually started crying."
When she inherited a 3-family home on West 19th Street from her mother, Jimenez knew taxes would go up as her mother received a senior citizen exemption, but never this high.
"Because she was a citizen [and it was] $504, and then of course this was the last one: $11,261.07," she said.
"If we are paying all these property taxes, that means our tenants that live here are also going to be affected by this, so there's something that really needs to be done," she said.
Jimenez finds herself in the same boat as many across Pilsen, upset about a dramatic increase in their property taxes.
The apparent culprit is gentrification, where expensive homes are going up, bringing with it the value of the neighborhood.
"I think we have to look at each case," said Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi.
Kaegi met with community leaders in an effort to calm nerves and get a better understanding of the temperature.
"We talked in our meeting about all the different ways. We are trying to get better data to put into our models," Kaegi said.
The Pilsen Alliance, a pillar in the community for decades, has been working for years with legislators on the local and state level to address the trend of rising property taxes.
"We kind of saw this coming a few years ago," said Moises Moreno, of the Pilsen Alliance.
Moreno argued the long-term solution is legislation that puts a cap on tax increases, more specifically the neighborhoods that saw double-digit percent increases like Pilsen saw, at 46%, and nearby Avondale at 27%.
Both are predominately Latino communities.
"We've also been asking the Assessor's Office to redo the formula, whatever formula they are using that they claim was going to make things better," Moreno said. "Obviously, it hasn't."
All of these issues are expected to be on the agenda when the two sides meet again for a public meeting set to take place February 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Benito Juarez High School.
