February 25, 2026
On February 17, the Civic Federation hosted a conversation with the two Democratic candidates for Cook County Assessor, Pat Hynes and Fritz Kaegi, moderated by our President Joe Ferguson. The goal was to discuss how Cook County’s assessment system is working, where it’s under strain, and what practical, near-term improvements are possible. This deep dive revealed that while both candidates agree on fundamental problems with Cook County's property tax assessment system, including data quality issues, excessive appeals, and assessment volatility, they differ significantly in their approaches to solutions. Despite their differences, both candidates acknowledged the inherent inequities in the current system and the need for structural reforms to reduce volatility and create more equitable outcomes for property owners across Cook County.
Pat Hynes
Throughout the discussion, Lyons Township Assessor Pat Hynes emphasized collecting “good clean data.” He cited collection and modeling as fundamental issues within the Cook County Assessor's office, as well as errors in underlying property data, all of which lead to a higher volume of appeals, less predictability for property owners, and a lack of trust in the system. Hynes also pointed to higher reassessment values on the South and West sides of Chicago, leading to disproportionately higher property taxes for residents.
Key Takeaways:
- Data Collection Improvements: Highlighted the necessity of good data collection and modeling
- Volume of Appeals: Cited a high volume of appeals as contributing to volatility and unpredictability in assessments for property owners.
- Assessment Cycle: In response to a question on shifting away from the triannual assessment cycle, opposed moving to an annual reassessment model, citing volatility in assessments as the real issue.
Proposed Solutions:
- Better data collection and record keeping to support a more robust and reliable assessment system.
- Property tax relief programs to lower burden, as well as education for policy-makers to understand the cause and effect of decisions.
- Establishing an Office of Economic Development within the Assessor’s office to provide predictability in future assessments of properties across Cook County.
Fritz Kaegi
Current Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi highlighted improvements made within the Assessor's office during his tenure and underscored the need to focus on equity and data collection to increase assessment accuracy. He discussed efforts to improve commercial assessments and decrease assessment volatility, highlighting the roadmap of the Cook County Property Tax Reform Group as a guiding framework, and noting that the complex problems the Assessor's office faces go deeper than strictly data issues and require a holistic approach.
Key Takeaways:
- Capacity Building: highlighted a desire to continue to grow the capacity of the Assessor's office.
- Assessors’ Office Improvements: noted that his office has improved its data collection, added staff, and made IT improvements, leading to better classification and overall assessment practices.
- Commercial Assessments: Cited the Cook County property tax reform study that found current commercial assessments are accurate within industry standards but are often reduced by 10-26% upon appeal at the Board of Review, highlighting the need to increase assessment accuracy.
- Equity Issues: Outlined equity-related issues and focused on eliminating “Robin Hood in reverse” dynamics in residential assessments, using tools such as the Southland Reactivation Act.
- Assessment Accuracy: Highlighted the need to improve commercial assessments and assessment accuracy.
Proposed Solutions:
- When asked about the hypothetical of moving away from a triannual assessment cycle, advocated for a more frequent reassessments , supported by more staff.
- Implementation of a circuit breaker property tax relief program, which would provide targeted relief by capping tax bills at a percentage of a homeowner's income. Highlighted that 29 other states have similar programs.
- Recommended use of the roadmap from the Cook County Property Tax Reform Group as a comprehensive framework developed by experts that would address commercial assessment inequities and reduce volatility in the system.
Agreements
- Illinois Reliance on Property Taxes: Both candidates acknowledged that Illinois’ heavy reliance on property taxes is a systemic challenge. Hynes cited difficulties for long-term property owners to pay assessments based on current asset values, as opposed to progressive taxes like income and sales tax that are based on current income and spending. Kaegi highlighted the reliance on property taxes to fund education, noting that states like Indiana use income tax systems, which create more equitable burden distribution.
- Appeal Volume: Both candidates acknowledged that Cook County sees an unusually large amount of appeals on property tax assessments and highlighted a desire to address that. They also both agreed that the system in place inherently results in a large volume of appeals.
- Commercial Assessments: Both candidates also agreed that better commercial assessments would decrease the overall volatility of the assessment system
- Residential Assessments: Both candidates acknowledged a study from University of Chicago focused on residential assessment fairness in Cook County, which showed residential assessments fall within industry standards for the first time in years.
Disagreements
- Assessment Cycle: Kaegi suggested that shifting to an annual reassessment timeline would assist in mitigating the volatility of property assessments. Hynes disagreed, saying shifting to an annual reassessment schedule would put undue burden on the Assessor’s office, which does not currently have the personnel to reassess every year.
- Volatility of Valuations: Though both agreed that the volatility of assessments is a challenge, they had different ideas on how to address this. Hynes cited poor data as the most prominent factor leading to volatile property evaluations, while Kaegi suggested that adopting the roadmap produced by the Cook County Property Tax Reform group would solve issues in the future.