North Cook News

The Cook County Assessor’s Office is taking drastic steps to ensure property values reflect the changes of the economic downturn due to COVID-19.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, first-time County Assessor Fritz Kaegi said many properties could see a change in their value because of the coronavirus. For now, the office is researching how major moments like natural disasters have previously impacted the real estate market.

“This is different because, for all of us to be safe and to get ahead of [coronavirus], we’ve had to shut down so many different sectors of the economy and economic activity," Kaegi said. "We’re trying to be mindful of all of that and try to reflect as best we can with the data that we have how the crisis is affecting different people’s lives.”

He added that while there are still plenty of unknown factors, his office is doing what it can to make necessary changes.

“We know that we won’t be perfect in that — the future is a little bit unknown, and how this crisis unfolds is uncertain, but we’re going to be doing the best we can," he said. "We figure it’s better to do that, rather than proceed as if nothing had happened.”

Property owners who will experience a change will be notified via the assessor’s office.

For now, properties in west and south suburban areas that were previously up for reassessment are slated to be delivered a reassessment notice. The northern suburbs, along with Chicago, are scheduled to get a notice that the pandemic potentially impacted the property of their value. They will also get information on what the new assessed value is.

Owners will have the chance to appeal the values assessed, but it will have to be done within 35 days, which is less than the standard 40 days.