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Chicago

Pilsen’s hard-hit property taxpayers protest nets meeting with Kaegi

Residents among most property taxes outside of his downtown office

Fritz Kaegi, Pilsen
Fritz Kaegi (Getty)

Fritz Kaegi is willing to talk.

The Cook County Assessor is planning a face-to-face response to protests by residents of Pilsen, the residential portion of the Chicago community area getting hit by the biggest increase to property tax bills out of all 77 in the city, Block Club Chicago reported.

Kaegi has agreed to attend a community meeting with Pilsen residents after more than two dozen people gathered outside of his downtown office to speak out against the increase, which includes a 45 percent increase to last year’s recently due residential property tax bills over the previous year’s to $39 million for the Lower West Side community area that includes Pilsen, public records show.

The median increase on a tax bill in the Lower West Side for the same period amounted to $2,275 for a medial total bill of more than $7,200 on a residential property, while area commercial owners were hit with a 24 percent increase on last year’s tax total to $42 million, with a $2,161 median increase to a total median tax bill of $10,800.

The protests were in response to a report from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office that found homeowners in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods like Pilsen, Avondale and Rogers Park were shouldering most of the tax increase.

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Kaegi’s chief of staff Scott Smith said the assessor will meet with residents next week to listen to their concerns, white noting the office isn’t the only one responsible for the tax increases. Kaegi has partly blamed the tax hikes on residential property owners the Board of Review for granting appeals too leniently to commercial property owners that have argued the assessor’s office has overvalued their properties.

Residents said they have filed appeals of their assessments, though claim public officials haven’t handled them properly.

Kaegi won the Democratic primary for the assessor’s seat last spring before defeating Libertarian challenger Nico Tsatsoulis with 82 percent of the votes in November.

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— Victoria Pruitt

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Fritz KaegiLower West SidePilsenPoliticsProperty Taxes