Cool it guys, please. This is not the P&R forum where I will have to move this thread if the discussion gets any more heated/political. We have some leeway with keeping stuff like this in our own subforum, but not when the players get out of hand.
to me it's interesting that the media has all but ignored this, is this not more of a personal story to more people than almost any other??
very true Then again I have given up on local news a long time ago. What they consider newsworthy and what isn't is so beyond me. Luckily there is CNN and BBC Americas.
If anyone beats that for combined properties for second installments due by month-end, he wins. Otherwise, I do. The funny part of it is that I am a rare user of social services those taxes provide, other than streets, sanitation, crowd control, etc. And respectfully now, J.P, are you really an English teacher? Do you have a spell-check on that thing you're typing with over there?
You win the tax sympathy vote. Re: spelling and grammar..... I don't believe there are any spelling errors in my posts; however, I probably should have stated some of my ideas a little less forcefully and without the colloquial speech. As I often tell my students, writing while upset can be very useful as long as you proofread and revise when you are calm.
I think we will see more about this story in the print media when people begin defaulting on their tax bills. Sad and scary times.
All is good, apologies made. Let's just drop it and move on. Pay our taxes per the system and bend over when we do it! FINIS!!!
LOL, those of us who live in Illinois and specifically, in Cook County, need to have a supply on hand! Stroger has put his hat in the ring; can anyone justify voting for him?
I know most of your comments were are about Chicago but here is some info for you to consider. First, a friend of mine (suburban cook) had a second installment tax bill that was triple his first installment ($13k to $40k). Overall his property tax liability more than doubled this year compared to last year. The property is an existing (not new construction, no new improvments) single family residence and an assessment appeal was filed and a reduction granted. Consequently, DaRoll's 90% increase is completely plausible. Next, your defense of the Cook/Chicago muni workers is really misplaced. I have the pleasure of dealing with various Cook County and Chicago departments on a regular basis and the waste, laziness, incompetence is staggering. These comments are not directed at the Board of Education as I have not had any dealings with them. There are definitely select good people at each department and getting to them is vital to getting things done. Having their direct telephone numbers is more valuable than gold. It's night and day when compared to Will and Dupage Counties. The people there are significantly better. A number of years ago I was looking to purchase a home. The communities I was looking at straddled the DuPage/Cook county line. I deliberately excluded any home on the Cook County side. The thought of any of my $$ going to fund their incompetence was too much to bear. I also do my best not to purchase anything in Cook or Chicago for the same reason. The other kick in the pants about Cook County property taxes is that the second installment comes out whenever they get around to it but then you need to turnaround and pay the first installment in March. Also, next year the first installment will be 55% of the previous year's tax bill. In the past it was 50%.
If you have property in Cook County, espically commercial property, I highly suggest you use a real estate tax attorney to help reduce your property taxes.
Agreed. Nice thing too is that a number of tax appeal attorney's fees will be based on the amount of reduction you receive. Consequently, no reduction, no fees.
Absolutely, and the only fee I've been charged by my attorney is the savings I get in taxes for the first year. If no reduction, no fee.
Not exactly no risk. A new appraisal is often needed, which is an out of pocket expense for us. That said, we have used our firm for 7 years with a high degree of success. I still hate the game, the accessor has neither the manpower or expertise to due the job correctly. Combine that with the political agenda and we have the game. The accessor increases the appraisal, in some cases 400%. Our attorney gets it reduced to 120%, I pay for their fee and the appraisal. While I am happy with the result, in the end I still feel like I've been raped.
I just remembered one of my favorite Cook County employee stories. I went to visit a doctor friend of mine at the old Cook County hospital. In order to see him I had to take an elevator. The elevator was a typical office elevator, not the large ones you sometimes see in hospitals. When I entered I was surprised to see there was an elevator operator onboard. He was seated in a chair that took up the rear quarter of the elevator space and was clearly bored and disinterested. I could have easily pressed one of those large round buttons on the panel myself but instead I let him know my floor selection. After pausing a moment, he lifted the sawed off broom handle he had in his hand and without even having to lean forward pressed the requisite button. Cook County efficiency at work. It's been a few years now and I'd like to think that elevator operator is now collecting a nice pension to compensate him for any splinters he may have recieved over the years.
Give him credit where credit is due. By lifting that broom handle he's doing more work than most county employees do! It's good to see a county employee that actually works. I'm sure he'll receive a great pension when he retires, paid for by the taxpayers! Remember, government is meant to help the government and its useless employees, not to help the populace! Sadly
Paid my 2nd half of Crook County property taxes today. The amount could have bought me a very nice toy.
You and me both. I've had SO MUCH MORE fun with SO MUCH LESS money than the money I transferred to the County of Crook today! I'm thinkin' next time, I'm renting a house. No taxes, no upkeep, etc.
Good idea, ceptin' you're not getting any equity. Once you leave the abode, the rent you paid leaves you nothing. I do agree though, there are pros and cons regarding renting vs buying.!
