How Property Owners Can Save

Property taxes in Cook County have increased for 30 years straight and show no sign of stopping. These unpredictable bills can make life difficult for businesses and homeowners alike, as no one knows exactly what they will get every year. Tax uncertainty has even driven the Chicago Bears to look outside the city for a new place to build a stadium. While systemic issues keep driving tax increases, taxpayers can fight back with a variety of techniques.

Property Tax Appeals are Becoming Key in Cook County

While they have become a general part of the lexicon since the disastrous 2023 reassessment, property tax appeals have always been an effective tool to right the wrongs created by the CCAO’s overzealous assessments. In 2025, the average property tax for a home increased by 16%, while some townships saw increases of over 100%. This led to the unprecedented step of the Board of Review (BOR) opening up appeals for a third go in December, along with a lengthy education campaign to inform the public about appeals. This bore significant fruit in 2026, with appeals being filed in record numbers, even outside of areas undergoing reassessment.

While homeowners and businesses have a lot of obstacles when it comes to property values, they have the advantage of having two different deadlines and appeal types. The first is assessor appeals, which are directly with the CCAO itself. In these meetings, the taxpayer can submit their evidence and attempt to get their assessed values brought down to realistic levels. If this fails, then a second round can be had with the BOR later in the year. For the people of Lakeview, the assessor deadline comes in July, while the BOR comes in the fall.

O’Connor Offers Elite Evidence

The hardest part of filing an appeal is gathering evidence. Not only is this the most important step, but it can take expertise to unravel some of the mysteries. To prove that a home or business is overassessed, a taxpayer must collect comparable sales dating back three years. These must be in the same location, with similar size, age, condition and characteristics. For cases involving a lack of uniformity in assessment, a taxpayer must find several assessments that have the same criteria as those for home sales. No matter the grounds selected, the evidence must be precise and curated to support the taxpayer’s case.

We at O’Connor are here to lend aid to taxpayers looking to appeal by providing expertise in evidence gathering. For over 50 years, we have put together cases against appraisal districts and assessors across the nation. When clients sign up with us, we will gather all of the key evidence for them after analyzing their assessment for any potential issues or leads. We then use data-driven techniques and our patented databases to find the exact evidence required, including sales records and assessments. Once this is put together, we will coordinate an appeal with a law firm with expertise in property tax matters. Our clients will never pay an upfront fee for this evidence or analysis, and we only ask for a percentage of the savings if our client and their attorney can get a reduction on their taxes.