Every property in Cook County could see values adjusted following coronavirus: Kaegi

Fritz Kaegi already had a big job to do. It’s gotten even bigger.

The Cook County assessor is planning to reevaluate every single property due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Normally, only one-third of Cook County is reassessed in a given year, but Kaegi said the reassessments have to be done due to the virus’ impacts on various asset types, the extent of which won’t be realized until the 2021 tax bills are due.

“Our job is to estimate the market value of real estate and the crisis has a significant effect on many kinds of real estate,” Kaegi told WBEZ. His office told the news outlet that property owners who say their assets have lost value due to the pandemic should file appeals in the coming months. The assessor’s office will use those appeals and other historical data to reassess some properties, to be completed by December.

Every property owner in the county will receive a notification from his office, with owners in the west and south suburbs already slated to be reassessed this year. Owners in the northern suburbs and the city of Chicago will receive a letter explaining to them that the coronavirus could have affected their property values. It would also tell them what the adjusted value could be.

Property owners won’t know the depths of the pandemic’s economic impact until August 2021 when the second installment of 2020 property tax bills are mailed to them. Kaegi said landlords who struck deals with tenants on reduced rent or other agreements could be credited with losses. [WBEZ] — James Kleimann