Lose home value? Don’t expect a lower property tax bill

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/7816066-418/lose-home-value-dont-expect-a-lower-property-tax-bill.html

BY LISA DONOVAN Cook County Reporter [e-mail] September 22, 2011 6:38PM

Cook County property tax bills are expected to go out the first week of October, and while Chicago and suburban landowners assume their property values have sunk, it may not translate to lower tax bills.

Countywide, property owners will collectively pay a 2.68 percent increase — a rise of more than $300 million — in property taxes this year.

That’s because taxing districts countywide — from parks and cities to libraries and schools — are asking for $11.6 billion to cover the bills, up from last year’s $11.3 billion.

Some $4 billion of that money goes to the major taxing districts in the city of Chicago, up from $3.9 billion the previous year.

[FrenchieCat]

1. In Alameda county, one can have their property taxes reassessed

based on updated property values.

I'm thinking that this should be available to most, no? :shrug:

http://www.acgov.org/forms/assessor/2011_2012_informal_request_decline_market_value.pdf


http://www.frontdoor.com/home-finance/getting-a-property-tax-reassessment-due-to-a-decline-in-a-homes-market-value/54889

[NNN0LHI]

2. According to the article assessed value is only a single factor in calculating the final bill

[Bluenorthwest]

7. CA has rules no other States have....Prop 13 stuff

Lots of them. Lots and lots. This is part of why CA is always more broke than it looks.

[NNN0LHI]

8. Doesn't help that the top five cars sold in California are imports either

As a retired union auto worker my wife and I always dreamed of vacationing in California and spending some money there as tourists.

But that is out of the question due to our finances being squeezed and our budget no longer allowing for any vacations like that.

So we won't be putting any money into the California economy because we don't have any extra money to spend.

Isn't tourism a big part of the California economy?

Don

[sasha031]

3. ours just went up by $1300 a year

[virgogal]

4. Homeowners always complain when the value goes down but

the taxes don't.

During the boom I didn't hear one person complain that their taxes were too low compared to the value of the home.

Human nature!

(And yes,I'm, one of them)

[NNN0LHI]

5. During the boom my pension increased every year to keep up with such things as higher property taxes

Used to be able to go to our union leadership to get an increase in our pensions to offset such increases. Not any more. My pension has not increased for years. Actually it has been reduced in the past few years with higher insurance premiums and higher co-pays.

Do you understand what that does to someone on a pension?

Don

[virgogal]

9. I've been on SS for 15 years plus a small pension. I sure do understand.

[SheilaT]

12. Pssst, guess what? A lot of currently

employed people haven't gotten raises in at least that long.

Do you understand what that does to someone who is still working?

[RB TexLa]

13. Do you understand that you are not guaranteed to be able to afford a certain type

size, or locale of housing?

[ecstatic]

6. Giving people more incentives to walk away

from bad investments.

[Yo_Mama]

10. Forcing retirees to sell paid-off homes they can no longer afford

and thus further driving down property values by increasing the supply of homes for sale.

[ThoughtCriminal]

11. I'm looking at value down 50%, Taxes going up 50% this year

But no additional money for local schools this year.

:shrug:

[Zanzoobar]

14. Cook County? Of course not.

I'm in MI and my property taxes have gone down the last two years.

Probably another coming up.

[Tesha]

15. It doesn't cost less to run a town/city just because house prices have dropped.

Roughly speaking, the assessed value times the millage
remains constant. So if the assessed equalized values
drop, then if the local budget doesn't change much,
the millage must rise in proportion to the drop in
assessed value.

Tesha