Struggling to pay your property taxes in Chicago? Springfield has come to your rescue.
A new program just signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker will provide assistance loans to help certain homeowners avoid becoming delinquent on their property taxes.
How is it paid for? You guessed it, by property taxes. Why didn’t somebody think of this earlier?
It’s House Bill 2614, now Public Act 102-0599, which was sponsored by State Senator Cristina Pacione-Zayas (D-Chicago) and originally introduced by Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago).
The Springfield establishment is quite proud of it, as you can see in a message being circulated by Illinois Senate Democrats.
The source of the money to be used for the loans has a troubled history, to put it mildly. Back in 1983, state legislation created so-called home equity taxing districts for Chicago that somehow were supposed to battle white flight from the city. WBEZ took a close look at the program in 2014, asking, “Why are we still collecting taxes to prevent white flight in Chicago?” With unspent money still accumulated in the districts, WBEZ wrote again in 2019 about the funds being repurposed to pay for home repairs.
So now those property tax proceeds have yet another purpose – helping folks who can’t pay their property taxes. The new legislation apparently applies to only one of Chicago’s districts on the Northwest Side, which is called the Northwest Home Equity Assistance Program. Fortunately, it does not appear that much money runs through the taxing district; it currently shows a fund balance of about $9 million.
In 2019 WBEZ quoted a NHEAP board member saying, “When I tell people about the program, they kind of look at me like I’m crazy.” Enough said.
-Mark Glennon
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
so,people that CAN pay their taxes are funding those that cant!?-brilliant jb!
They’ll have lots of fun sorting this out in bankruptcy court too.
LOL, this property tax relief program has an executive director paid $88K to hand out loans to 9 of Chicago’s 77 neighbors and the department itself pays property tax? Can’t make this crap up.
Unsurprisingly, Guzzardi keeps up with his long, sordid history of real estate hijinks: https://citizenvsmachine.wordpress.com/2017/02/08/who-controlled-will-guzzardis-rent/
Also, 4 commissioners, chairperson, and acting secretary. No meeting minutes since April either.
https://nwheap.com/category/meet-minutes-and-agendas/
You can’t make this stuff up. What a state. WCGW here….