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Over the past six years, the property tax levy has skyrocketed from $3.6 million in 2019 to $4.8 million in 2024. For Burnham residents, this means paying some of the most punishing property taxes in the Southland. The median home value of $150,000 now comes with a crushing $4,800 tax bill—far surpassing the burdens faced by homeowners in neighboring Calumet City ($3,500) and Lansing ($4,000).
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
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.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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And yet they continue to vote for the same old ,same old.
These numbers are Ted Mack’s amateur hour compared to what we have been paying in worthless Rockford. As an example my rental in 2009 was worth $180K and taxes were approx $6,300 by 2013 the value went down to $131K and taxes were $6,100 then in 2014 it went down to $123K and taxes went up a bit to $6,150. Now a few times I protested the assessment and won and taxes still went up. Some of the neighbors did the same and won but those that did not protest their bill went up dramatically. One neighbor his home was… Read more »
It baffles me that people want to become landlords in Illinois.
The Chicago area has crazy-high PTs. Without sounding too naive, why are Rockford’s way worse? I didn’t think you could go much higher than “crazy-high.” If Rockford residents accept 5+ percent PTs, do Chicago-area residents have such a high threshold of pain? JB and BJ would love it if that were the case.
We are lower now somewhere around 3.5 but that is because there are very few homes on the market. No one wants to give up a 3% or less mortgage rate. Home values have gone up the last few years mostly due to low inventory and Rockford is getting better in some ways. I can get more money for my rental maybe 80K more than purchase price of $185K in 2007. Still pathetic compared to home price increases around the country. If I could move my home to say Boulder,CO it would be worth $1.5M or more. I have read… Read more »
Once NAFTA was enacted, towns like Rockford saw their industrial base gutted. Those taxes were shifted onto the homeowners and they have never been reduced. My wife and I looked at homes in North Rockford and Roscoe about 20 years ago. The PT were insane at that time and we did not buy there. Winnebago counties taxes are insane.
Thanks. I tell younger people they can run but can’t hide from high PTs in IL. Cook County has extremely high PT rates, but so do many other counties in the Chicago area and Illinois.
Having a large industrial or business presence in a municipality helps to lower PTs somewhat.