Last year, Roslyn Sternfeld appealed the property tax bill for her white brick split-level at 7636 Kildare Avenue in Skokie.
The Cook County Assessor said he believed it was now worth $320,924, up from $248,881 a year earlier, a 30 percent increase. Her property taxes-- $6,223 in 2015-- would be rising.
The assessor gave a little, settling at a value of $316,696, a 27 percent hike. All things remaining equal, Sternfeld was looking at a new bill of around $8,000-- or 2.5 percent of her home’s supposed value.
With no mortgage, that would mean a bill of $667 per month to keep a home in which she had lived since the 1960’s, when Roslyn moved there with her late husband, pediatrician Dr. Jack Sternfeld.
Last month, Sternfeld, age 90, sold for $100,000.
(see editor's note at the end of this story)
Whose home equity?
Over her previous decade living on Kildare alone, Sternfeld had paid $64,602 in property taxes-- more than two thirds of what, it turned out, her home was actually worth.
Over her estimated 50 years in the home, she no doubt bought it back several times.
According to a Chicago Tribune study, Skokie has the second highest effective property tax rate in the northwest suburbs-- 3.58 percent. To be sure, Roslyn Sternfeld was actually getting off easy.
A Local Government Information Services (LGIS) analysis of 20 suburbs in northwest Cook County found that real estate values have universally fallen- between 20 and 46 percent-- over the past decade. And median tax bills have skyrocketed, now ranging from $4,866 (Streamwood) to $29,511 (Barrington Hills) per year.
The median home price in Skokie fell 39 percent from 2007 to 2015-- from $412,659 to $253,000, according to Zillow.com
Morton Grove (-40 percent), Niles (-41 percent), Des Plaines (-42 percent), Streamwood (-42 percent) and Wheeling (-46 percent) were the only northwest suburban real estate markets faring worse.
Home prices in Arlington Heights fared badly-- but the best of all communities analyzed. In 2007, its median price was $370,364 and in 2015, it was $298,000, down 20 percent.
In Barrington Hills, where the effective property tax rate was 3.94 percent, a home worth $1.017 million in 2007 is worth just $750,000 today-- down 26 percent.
School spending keeps rising
LGIS found that from 1997 through 2015, spending at 34 of 37 school districts serving the northwest Cook County suburbs rose in real dollars.
At Skokie School District 69, they rose 72 percent during a span when enrollment grew just 25 percent.
District 69 had the second-largest spending increase in northwest Cook County, behind Maine Township High School District 207. That district, serving Park Ridge and Des Plaines with three high schools-- Maine South, Maine East, and Maine West-- hiked its spending by 76 percent, more than triple the rate of its enrollment (23 percent).
Niles Township High School District 219, which serves Skokie, Niles, Lincolnwood, and Morton Grove, raised its spending 70 percent, ranking third. Its enrollment grew 14 percent over the same period.
Morton Grove School District 70 raised its spending 54 percent over the period, with enrollment growing a little less than half as much, 21 percent.
Rosemont School District 78 and Community Consolidated District 62 in Des Plaines both raised spending 45 percent. Their enrollments fell ten percent and grew five percent, respectively.
In Schaumburg CCSD 54, enrollment was down 14 percent from 1997 to 2015. But spending still rose-- four percent, to $167 million.
2023 projected
If these local government spending trends continue, Roslyn Sternfeld’s predicament will become all too common.
If the next eight years are like the last eight years for the real estate market, Skokie’s median sale price in 2023 will be $177,310. And the median homeowner will have paid $144,918 in property taxes from 2007 to 2023, a total of 81 percent of its worth.
In Wheeling, where the median home price was $284,632 in Jan. 2007, LGIS projects home vaues will fall to $94,012. And the median homeowner will have paid $79,070 over the previous 16 year period, or 84 percent of the home’s value.
In Streamwood (77 percent of taxes paid), Barrington Hills (75 percent) and Morton Grove (75 percent), taxes will equal more than three-quarters of their home’s market value. In 15 of 20 northwest Cook suburbs, property taxpayers will have paid more than 50 percent of their 2023 home value over the same period.
Editor's note: In response to this story, Cook County Assessor Spokesman Tom Shaer told North Cook News that he contacted Ms. Sternfeld who told him that she sold her home at a lower price purposely, to a family member.
Shaer takes issue with the suggestion that the Cook County Assessor incorrectly assesses properties, including Ms. Sternfeld's.
Recent sales in her immediate Skokie neighborhood, excluding Sternfeld's, have ranged from $160,000 to $270,000.
Northwest Cook County Median Home Prices, 2007 to 2015
| Rank | Community | Jan 2007 | Jan 2015 | CHG |
| 1 | Wheeling | $284,632 | $153,000 | -46.2% |
| 2 | Streamwood | $266,342 | $154,000 | -42.2% |
| 3 | Des Plaines | $365,792 | $214,000 | -41.5% |
| 4 | Niles | $424,090 | $249,000 | -41.3% |
| 5 | Morton Grove | $433,235 | $262,000 | -39.5% |
| 6 | Skokie | $412,659 | $253,000 | -38.7% |
| 7 | Rolling Meadows | $302,922 | $186,000 | -38.6% |
| 8 | Lincolnwood | $546,402 | $344,000 | -37.0% |
| 9 | Elk Grove Village | $355,504 | $225,000 | -36.7% |
| 10 | Schaumburg | $315,496 | $200,000 | -36.6% |
| 11 | Prospect Heights | $313,209 | $200,000 | -36.1% |
| 12 | Palatine | $353,218 | $228,000 | -35.5% |
| 13 | Mt. Prospect | $406,944 | $268,000 | -34.1% |
| 14 | Park Ridge | $539,543 | $361,000 | -33.1% |
| 15 | Bartlett | $358,933 | $250,000 | -30.3% |
| 16 | Hoffman Estates | $347,502 | $243,000 | -30.1% |
| 17 | Inverness | $825,318 | $585,000 | -29.1% |
| 18 | Glenview | $654,996 | $465,000 | -29.0% |
| 19 | South Barrington | $1,200,255 | $857,000 | -28.6% |
| 20 | Northbrook | $658,426 | $471,000 | -28.5% |
| 21 | Barrington Hills | $1,017,359 | $749,000 | -26.4% |
| 22 | Arlington Heights | $370,364 | $298,000 | -19.5% |
Northwest Cook County, Projected 2023
| Rank | Community | 2023 Projected Median Sale | Prop Taxes Paid 2015-2023 | Taxes Paid % |
| 1 | Wheeling | $94,012 | $79,070 | 84.1% |
| 2 | Skokie | $177,310 | $144,918 | 81.7% |
| 3 | Streamwood | $101,785 | $77,862 | 76.5% |
| 4 | Barrington Hills | $630,338 | $472,170 | 74.9% |
| 5 | Morton Grove | $181,119 | $134,982 | 74.5% |
| 6 | Des Plaines | $143,113 | $96,557 | 67.5% |
| 7 | Prospect Heights | $145,985 | $96,960 | 66.4% |
| 8 | Rolling Meadows | $130,551 | $85,114 | 65.2% |
| 9 | Bartlett | $199,045 | $123,200 | 61.9% |
| 10 | Palatine | $168,233 | $103,968 | 61.8% |
| 11 | Mt. Prospect | $201,753 | $122,637 | 60.8% |
| 12 | Park Ridge | $276,104 | $165,771 | 60.0% |
| 13 | Lincolnwood | $247,565 | $148,058 | 59.8% |
| 14 | Schaumburg | $144,928 | $84,800 | 58.5% |
| 15 | Niles | $167,119 | $92,429 | 55.3% |
| 16 | Elk Grove Village | $162,781 | $86,400 | 53.1% |
| 17 | Inverness | $473,996 | $238,680 | 50.4% |
| 18 | Arlington Heights | $274,086 | $128,259 | 46.8% |
| 19 | Glenview | $377,356 | $176,328 | 46.7% |
| 20 | Northbrook | $385,141 | $179,357 | 46.6% |
| 21 | Hoffman Estates | $194,240 | $87,869 | 45.2% |
| 22 | South Barrington | $699,475 | $283,838 | 40.6% |
Northwest Cook County Local School Spending, 1997-2015
| Rank | School District | 1997 Spend | 2015 Spend | CHG |
| 1 | Park Ridge CCSD 64 | $38,947,288 | $68,607,178 | 76% |
| 2 | Skokie SD 69 | $14,372,177 | $24,709,186 | 72% |
| 3 | Niles 219 | $80,149,522 | $136,645,631 | 70% |
| 4 | Morton Grove SD 70 | $8,280,041 | $12,726,078 | 54% |
| 5 | Rosemont ESD 78 | $2,932,804 | $4,266,979 | 45% |
| 6 | CCSD 62 (Des Plaines) | $48,496,317 | $70,391,396 | 45% |
| 7 | Fairview SD 72 (Skokie) | $7,767,215 | $11,190,670 | 44% |
| 8 | Ridgewood CHSD 234 (Norridge) | $11,943,985 | $17,088,230 | 43% |
| 9 | Skokie SD 73-5 | $12,615,977 | $17,850,759 | 41% |
| 10 | Glenview CCSD 34 | $43,573,804 | $61,425,785 | 41% |
| 11 | Schiller Park SD 81 | $11,128,796 | $15,312,717 | 38% |
| 12 | Northbrook/Glenview SD 30 | $16,279,676 | $22,351,209 | 37% |
| 13 | Pennoyer SD 79 (Norridge) | $2,855,556 | $3,909,710 | 37% |
| 14 | Northfield Twp HSD 225 | $86,574,043 | $116,600,515 | 35% |
| 15 | Union Ridge SD 86 (Harwood Hts) | $4,512,917 | $5,822,222 | 29% |
| 16 | Golf ESD 67 (Morton Grove) | $7,724,203 | $9,652,943 | 25% |
| 17 | Comm Cons SD 59 (Arlington Hts) | $74,317,336 | $88,379,545 | 19% |
| 18 | West Northfield SD 31 | $13,735,729 | $16,153,021 | 18% |
| 19 | Northbrook SD 28 | $29,256,788 | $33,942,877 | 16% |
| 20 | Township HSD 211 (Palatine) | $191,715,697 | $221,561,748 | 16% |
| 21 | Wheeling CCSD 21 | $64,716,208 | $73,192,054 | 13% |
| 22 | Rhodes SD 84-5 (River Grove) | $5,295,021 | $5,838,872 | 10% |
| 23 | Skokie SD 68 | $25,715,142 | $28,247,283 | 10% |
| 24 | Maine Twp HSD 207 (Park Ridge) | $108,912,806 | $119,308,741 | 10% |
| 25 | Lincolnwood SD 74 | $18,482,184 | $20,125,726 | 9% |
| 26 | Township HSD 214 (Arlington Hts) | $207,958,792 | $226,124,461 | 9% |
| 27 | Norridge SD 80 | $8,052,688 | $8,750,500 | 9% |
| 28 | Arlington Heights SD 25 | $55,019,123 | $58,609,954 | 7% |
| 29 | Northbrook ESD 27 | $23,052,704 | $24,494,674 | 6% |
| 30 | East Maine SD 63 (Des Plaines) | $36,426,157 | $38,633,206 | 6% |
| 31 | Prospect Heights SD 23 | $17,940,191 | $18,951,948 | 6% |
| 32 | Schaumburg CCSD 54 | $161,516,477 | $167,378,353 | 4% |
| 33 | East Prairie SD 73 (Skokie) | $7,086,783 | $7,246,528 | 2% |
| 34 | Mount Prospect SD 57 | $21,500,398 | $21,459,620 | 0% |
| 35 | Niles ESD 71 | $8,876,492 | $8,781,284 | -1% |
| 36 | Palatine CCSD 15 | $125,750,344 | $124,041,515 | -1% |
| 37 | River Trails SD 26 (Mt Prospect) | $22,820,366 | $22,025,152 | -3% |
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