With some suburban residents facing significant increases in their property tax bills, a group of mayors are pushing to try to reverse some of those charges.
Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark is one of those mayors, pursuing efforts to address the surging property tax bills.
During a Tuesday press conference, Clark said his administration is calling for support for other communities to commit to a “hold the tax” pledge.
“We want to work with our state, our county, and of course local officials to figure out ways to get that down,” he said. “And that means conversations with our assessor conversations with our treasurer and of course conversations with that clerk.”
Clark said Harvey was one of the 15 south suburban communities that saw increases of 30% or more in property tax bills.
Firoz Vohra was one of the residents who attended Tuesday’s press conference to illustrate the impacts of the increased bills.
“We don’t have enough money to actually give services to residents, whether it’s the law enforcement….or the water department. We do need more revenues, but not at the cost of high property taxes,” Vohra said.
According to an analysis from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office, the property taxes in the south suburbs rose by $265.4 million, with the median residential tax bill increasing by 19.9%, the highest increase in nearly 30 years.
The study found that homeowners in Park Forest saw their tax bills increased by 56%, and median bills in Dixmoor increased by 122%.
In all, more than 1.3 million homeowners saw increased property tax bills.
