Appendix: A Closer Look At Your Property Taxes

Your property tax bill includes taxes for many different government entities. Illinois has more units of government than any other state so it is not unusual to pay a dozen or more government entities through your property tax bill. Each government entity prepares its own budget and submits it to the Cook County Assessor’s office. This office then sends out the property tax bill which is based on the budget and on your home’s assessed value.

Calculating Your Property Taxes

County Assessor’s office does not set tax rates or levies or decide the dollar amount of your tax bill. The main job of the Cook County Assessor is to determine the Assessed Fair Market Value (MV) of your property.

Here are the steps and an example to show how your property tax is determined.

 Step 1:  Determine Assessed Fair Market Value (MV) of property  Assessed Fair Market Value (MV) $250,000
 Step 2: Determine Assessed Valuation (AV) (10% of MV)  Assessment Level (10%) x .10
 Step 3: Create Equalized Assessed Value (EAV)  Assessed Valuation (AV) = $25,000
 Step  4: Apply State Equalization Factor/ Multiplier (“State Equalizer”)  State Equalizer x 2.9627
 Step 5:  Create Equalized Assessment Value (EAV)  Equalized Assessed Value (EAV) = $74,067.50
 Step 6:  Deduct any qualified property tax exemptions  Homeowner Exemption -$10,000
 Step 7: Create Adjusted EAV  Adjusted EAV = $64,067.50
 Step 8: Apply local tax rate andlevies  Sample Tax Rate x 7.556%
 Step 9: Determine property tax  Total Tax = $4,840.94

The County Clerk is actually the person responsible for “backing into” the tax rate. A tax rate is set by taking the budget of all of the taxing entities such as a school district or a fire protection district and spreading that cost out over the EAV throughout the district. Each bill in Glenview will be different as it is based upon where you live.

How your property tax is distributed

Here is the Government Entity Distribution of Taxes on a $4,840.94 Property Tax Bill.

 School Taxes (67.22%)

Oakton Community College (3.07%)

Glenbrook High School District 225 (27.82%)

Glenview School District 34 (36.33%)

 Special Districts (12.95%)

North Shore Mosquito Abatement District Northfield (0.13%)

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago (5.32%)

Glenview Park District (7.5%)

 Municipality/Township Taxes (12.03%)

Glenview Library Fund (4.45%)

Village of Glenview (6.55%)

Road and Bridge Northfield (0.65%)

General Assistance Northfield (0.08%)

Township of Northfield (0.30%)

 Cook County Taxes (7.80%)

Cook County Forest Preserve District (0.82)

Consolidated Elections (0.41%)

County of Cook (4.34%)

Cook County Public Safety (1.44%)

Cook County Health Facilities (0.79%)


Appealing Your Property Taxes

If you believe your taxes are unfair, you may file an appeal. You’re not really appealing your property taxes but rather the assessed value of your home. You need to follow the instructions found on the Cook County Assessor’s website and present a solid argument as to why your home is assessed too high. Common arguments include:

  • Lack of uniformity (your home is not in line with the assessed value of other homes in the area)
  • Overvaluation (the assessed value is not in line with the market value of your home based on what similar homes have recently sold for)
  • Incorrect information (the county is incorrect in what they think you own – e.g. the house is much smaller than they think, damaged by fire, etc.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is an economic redevelopment tool used by communities to spur investment in a specific geographic area over a limited period of time. Often, this area is considered abandoned or blighted – but not always. The Village has two such districts: the Glen and the area around Waukegan Road/Golf Road. While these areas would not be generally considered blighted, they both represent areas with significant infrastructure and development costs. A common misconception is that property owners in a TIF District “don’t pay property taxes.” They do. But for the duration of the TIF District, their property taxes go into a special fund for distribution rather than going directly to the various government entities. Districts are managed by the Village.

The Glen TIF

The Glen TIF operates under special rules set up for the redevelopment of closed military bases. Not only does the TIF pay for typical expenses as mentioned above, but it also uniquely funds “make whole” payments to certain government entities to make sure they are properly funded as the population increased within the TIF boundaries. Those government entities include Glenbrook High School District 225, Village of Glenview, Glenview School District 34, Glenview Park District, Glenview Library, and Northbrook/Glenview School District. The Glen TIF is due to sunset in 2022.

The Waukegan Road/Golf Road TIF

The Waukegan Road/Golf Road TIF encompasses 21 acres and operates as a typical TIF where the taxes go to expenses such as demolition, building infrastructure, incentives to attract business and administrative costs. The Waukegan Road/Golf Road TIF is expected to be retired between 2021 to 2023.

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