Todd Ricketts owes back taxes after skirting assessments on rebuilt Wilmette home

The Cubs co-owner and Republican fundraiser will pay at least $60K in back taxes, and his annual tax burden will more than double

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi and Todd Ricketts (Credit: Getty Images)
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi and Todd Ricketts (Credit: Getty Images)

The jig is up on Todd Ricketts’ Wilmette home.

The Cubs co-owner and Republican party fundraiser might have to pay at least $60,000 in back property taxes after an investigation found his property was under-assessed for nearly a decade, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office began digging after the Tribune revealed Ricketts has paid property taxes each year based on assessments of an older, smaller house that Ricketts demolished in 2010 to make way for a 5,000-square-foot replacement. In 2013, Rickett’s tax attorney filed an appeal to the Cook County Board of Review including photos and descriptions of the old house.

After visiting the new house, assessors assigned a new value just under $2 million this week. The property had been assessed at $828,000 earlier this year, running Ricketts a roughly $22,800 tax bill.

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The new numbers mean Ricketts would owe about $20,000 per year in back taxes, which can be collected going back no more than three years, per state law.

Wilmette village records show the house was completed in February 2010 with an 800-square-foot garage, an outdoor patio and a koi pond.

North suburban homeowners have seen their property tax bills spike under Kaegi’s new assessment process — but not as much as commercial property owners, some of whom have seen their assessments double or more. [Chicago Tribune] — Alex Nitkin