There continues to be concern over rising property taxes in Cook County.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi took questions Thursday about how his office is reassessing the value of people's homes and properties.
A proposed circuit breaker law could bring some homeowners a little relief.
Some homeowners spoke with ABC7 about their rising bills.
For the past 25 years, Hattie Knazze has owned a South Shore three-flat. The 77-year-old lifelong Chicagoan said her home is becoming unaffordable because of much higher property taxes.
"When I calculated, my taxes went from $2,300 to $6,300," Knazze said.
The $4,000 a year increase is due to the most recent reassessment by the Cook County Assessor. The office is in the process of reassessing all Chicago properties.
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"The past three years has been the strongest three-year period for house prices in Cook County and Chicago and the past 20," Kaegi said.
Because property values have increased, Cook County Assessor Kaegi said residential assessments have gone up. However, during an appearance before the city club Thursday, he claimed his office has made the process more fair recently.
"We have dramatically decreased the regressivity and dramatically increased the accuracy of all residences in Chicago," Kaegi said.
However, not all residents would agree. There have been numerous complaints of properties being over assessed or hundreds of millions of dollars worth of properties left off the tax rolls.
Kaegi said his office is now catching almost all those properties. In addition, he has directed more field inspectors to find properties that are over-assessed.
"When it comes to the field, we want to make sure we have better read on the condition and quality of properties," Kaegi said.
Kaegi also blames the Cook County Board of Review for giving 15-20% of all commercial properties assessment cuts and only 1-2% to residents.
READ MORE | Many south, SW suburban homeowners face record-high property tax increases: Cook County treasurer
To help people like Knazze stay in her home, Kaegi is working on state legislation that would provide relief for residents with the highest tax increases combined with low incomes. Without help, Knazze said she may have to go back to work.
"I don't understand why at this point of my life and I forced to go get an another job," Knazze said.
Kaegi said he is working on drafting circuit breaker legislation with some lawmakers. He said 29 states have laws in place to help people stay in their homes. However, Kaigi did not say how such a program would be paid for.
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