Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi is under scrutiny for mistakenly distributing over $930,000 in property tax breaks to homeowners and businesses since taking office nearly seven years ago.
The assessor’s office reported that 287 property owners received what are classified as ‘erroneous’ property tax exemptions.
Efforts to collect another $900,000 in penalties and interest from these property owners were initially considered, with the aim of using that revenue to identify further tax evasion.
However, Kaegi ultimately chose to waive all penalties and interest associated with these erroneous exemptions.
Michael Beaver, a staff member in Kaegi’s office, stated, “We do not bill interest or penalty in the event of an assessor error.”
Among those affected was David Prescott, who purchased a home in Wilmette in July 2020.
When Prescott received his 2021 property tax bill, it was listed as having no amount owed at all.
Upon investigating, he found that they continued receiving a tax break meant for the previous owner, a disabled veteran.
“We didn’t apply for any of these exemptions,” Prescott noted, expressing his belief that the situation was not nefarious but rather a case of incompetence.
After months of confusion, Prescott received a bill for $20,625 in delinquent taxes, along with penalties and interest totaling $16,500, all of which were waived by Kaegi’s office.
“I didn’t have to pay any penalties because it was an error on their side,” Prescott remarked.
George Bahramis, a Glenview accountant, encountered similar issues with six properties managed by his firm, Eon Property Management, across various locations including Chicago and Tinley Park.
For years, the assessor’s office continued granting homeowner exemptions on these properties, leading to over $50,000 in tax breaks that Bahramis had not applied for, as they were meant solely for owner-occupied residences.
In a corrective measure, Kaegi’s office moved to file liens against the properties to recover the improper tax breaks, some of which dated back to 2015.
Bahramis repaid the improvidently awarded tax breaks, but records reveal that Kaegi waived $28,744 in penalties and interest on these erroneous exemptions.
The tax issues arose for Bahramis while he was under investigation concerning loans from a failed bank involved in a major embezzlement scheme, which prompted questions about his financial dealings.
Alderman Walter Burnett and his wife also fell victim to the erroneous granting of tax exemptions.
For eight years, they received homeowner exemptions on both their residence and an investment property, a fact that came to light following a report by the Chicago Sun-Times in August 2021.
After the exposure, Burnett repaid the amount saved from the improper exemptions but was not required to pay the $622 in penalties for the erroneous exemptions, a decision that remains unexplained.
Kaegi’s office faced its most significant errors with four Brookdale Senior Living properties across several neighborhoods.
An internal audit revealed that Brookdale was wrongfully granted $530,541 in property tax reductions through excessive exemptions far exceeding the actual number of occupants.
In January, Brookdale rectified the situation by paying the correct amount owed, but Kaegi’s office waived a staggering $424,433 in penalties and interest.
Brookdale’s attorney expressed clear frustrations, stating, “In one case, we got 500 credits when we should have only gotten 260 exemptions.”
In response to these issues, Kaegi’s spokesman Christian Belanger acknowledged the grant errors but downplayed their frequency.
Belanger contended that erroneous exemptions leading to waived interest represent a ‘very small fraction’ of the overall cases, calculated at less than 1% of the over 1 million properties receiving exemptions annually.
He further explained that when erroneous property tax breaks are identified, the assessor’s office generally pursues the owed amounts.
In the previous fiscal year, the erroneous exemption unit successfully collected $5.4 million in revenue, which included $1.2 million from interest and penalties.
The fallout from these blunders raises questions about the effectiveness and accountability of Kaegi’s office in managing property tax exemptions, amid growing concerns from affected taxpayers and property owners alike.
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