Full value studies estimate the market value of residential and commercial real estate in a taxing district. They provide a snapshot of the value of a taxing district’s property tax base at a point in time. Examining trends in full value can show how market values have changed over time and whether the assessment burden has shifted across different geographic areas and property classes. The full market value of real estate is an indicator of regional economic health, the size of the property…
The Local Pension Dashboard is intended for use as a resource and educational tool to increase the accessibility of local pension fund data. The dashboard reports metrics for the ten major local pension funds within the City of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois, with data from 1996 to 2024 (2024 CTA data is not included as that data has not been released as of publication). Using this tool, dashboard users can create custom visualizations and comparisons of up to ten funds.
Short-term or current liabilities are financial obligations that must be satisfied within one year. These include short-term notes, accounts payable, amounts due to other funds, accrued payroll and other current liabilities. Rating agencies, financial analysts and the Civic Federation regularly track trends in short-term liabilities to help evaluate the overall fiscal health of governments. This blog post reviews Cook County short-term liability trends in the Governmental Funds for the five-…
The Civic Federation recently released its annual Effective Property Tax Rates report, which examines two- and ten-year trends in estimated effective tax rates for residential, commercial and industrial property in selected northeastern Illinois communities. The report highlights that in the ten-year period between tax years 2007 and 2016, effective tax rates increased in all of the selected communities, including in Chicago, suburban Cook County and the collar counties (Lake, McHenry, Kane,…
This article covered the annual Effective Property Tax Rates report, which compared estimated effective property tax rates in the six-county region of northeastern Illinois between 2007 and 2016, the last year for which data are available. Both the report and the article examine the two- and ten-year trends in effective property tax rates for the selected communities. In the ten-year period between tax years 2007 and 2016, effective tax rates increased for every community studied. However…
Effective tax rates increased for all selected communities in ten-year period analyzed (CHICAGO) The Civic Federation released its annual estimate of effective property tax rates in the six-county region of northeastern Illinois today. The full report is available here. Among the 12 selected Cook County communities, Harvey had the highest effective tax rate for residential properties at 6.90% in tax year 2016, while Chicago had the lowest residential rate at 1.69%. Effective tax rates…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. AT A GLANCE This annual report compares estimated effective property tax rates in the six-county region of northeastern Illinois between 2007 and 2016, the last year for which data are available. Effective tax rates increased for all selected communities in the ten-year period analyzed. MAJOR FINDINGS Effective property tax rates are a measure of property tax burden…
As part of the FY2016 budget approval process during fall of 2015, the City of Chicago for the first time imposed a waste removal fee of $9.50 per month on approximately 600,000 residents already receiving waste removal services provided by City of Chicago employees. Chicago residences receiving City-provided garbage collection include single family homes and multi-unit buildings with four or fewer units. Chicago residents who live in properties with five or more units, as well as owners of…
As part of an ongoing series about local governments in Illinois, this blog post will examine the revenues and expenditures of counties located in Illinois and a comparison of county population data within Illinois and across states. The revenue and expenditure data is self-reported to the Illinois Comptroller’s Office and incorporated into the Comptroller’s statutorily required Fiscal Responsibility Report Card for 2016, the most recent data available. The county population data is accessed…
This article discusses the findings of the Civic Federation’s Estimated Full Value of Real Property in Cook County: 2007-2016. In 2016, the last year for which data is available, the estimated full value of property in Cook County continued to increase, hitting $528.8 billion. However, that number is still below the pre-recession peak. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall said that though Cook County has not fully rebounded from the recession, it is making progress.
