From Cook County Clerk David Orr, June 19, 2014:
Cook County property owners located in a tax increment financing district will now see how much of their tax bill is going into a TIF fund, Cook County Clerk David Orr announced Thursday as he released the 2013 tax rates.
“When tax bills arrive soon in mailboxes, more than 200,000 property owners will have a TIF line item that details the amount they are paying into a TIF fund,” Orr said. “As a longtime advocate for TIF transparency, I’m pleased that this enhancement means tax bills will accurately reflect property owners’ true distribution of tax dollars.”
Previous tax bills identified properties within a TIF, but did not show the tax amount and directed property owners to use the Clerk’s online TIF tool for more information. Now, the second installment tax bill displays the amount and percentage of the total bill diverted to the TIF fund.
For example, a commercial property in the Melrose Park-Mid Metro Industrial TIF district has a total 2013 tax bill (payable in 2014) of $32,936.20. Of that, $6,422.56, or 19.5 percent, goes to the TIF. In another example, a Chicago homeowner living in the 43rd/Cottage Grove TIF will pay 84.9 percent of their $2,048.30 bill into that TIF fund.
Including TIF data on the tax bills also means a more accurate tally for other taxing districts. Last summer’s bill for the Melrose Park business showed $5,765.15 going to the Village of Melrose Park and $11,889.69 to School District 88, but the improved 2012 figures on this year’s bill reflect the amended amounts of $4,523.34 and $9,328.65, respectively. The taxpayer’s total tax amount ($31,721.56) did not change, but the revised bill reflects the shifting of dollars to the TIF fund ($6,832.82) and away from the other taxing bodies.
“Tax calculations are complex and it took quite a bit of work to modify the bills,” Orr said. “This could not have been possible without my Director of Real Estate & Tax Services Bill Vaselopulos and the County’s Bureau of Technology.”
About 12 percent of all properties in Cook County are located in a TIF district. That means, about 220,000 tax bills will include the new TIF allocation, and 58 percent of those are residential properties.
THANKS, DAVID ORR!
