Assessor Kaegi: Senior-Tax Freeze Should Be On Autopilot
- Mar 2
- 4 min read
By Don DeBat
Cash-strapped senior citizens in Chicago and Cook County must be rattling their walkers in unison this month, and eagerly casting absentee ballots from wheelchairs and rocking chairs.
All their applause and votes are directed to Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, who is joining with community groups, the clergy, and wise members of the Illinois General Assembly, calling for easier access to property-tax relief for low-income seniors.
Assessor Kaegi is supporting Senate Bill 1750 and House Bill 4801 which would allow easier annual renewal of the Senior Freeze Homestead Exemption, by providing automatic property tax savings for elderly homeowners.
The Senior Freeze for low-income homeowners over the age of 65 years freezes their property’s taxable value.
Last year, more than 120,000 households in Chicago and Cook County received the Senior Freeze. In November of 2025, the General Assembly passed legislation to immediately raise the income eligibility threshold for the exemption to $75,000 and boost it to $79,000 by 2029.
“We want to help those homeowners who need it the most,” said Kaegi. This proposed upgrade in state law makes “a quick, effective change that removes a serious barrier to access for seniors,” he said.
State Sen. Javier Cervantes (1st District) said: “When this [idea] was brought to me, I thought it was common-sense legislation that we have to get done.”
Senior Freeze red tape
This writer has interviewed several North Side senior citizens on the difficulty they currently experienced in order to obtain the Senior Freeze. Virtually all said the current red-tape system requires providing proof of residency and detailed income-tax data from an accountant. Then, they must fill out and file a fairly complex application on-line or in person—each and every year.
However, one athletic, 65-year-old North Side property owner with staying power reported that he patiently sat in the Assessor’s waiting room on the third floor (Room 320) at 118 N. Clark St. and waited for his number to be called.
Eventually, a clerk called the senior property owner to the front desk. The senior citizen handed in the required application, identification and documentation and actually received a Senior Freeze Exemption in a single afternoon.
This writer wonders if a typical 75-year-old, hobbled by a walker and limping on wobbly knees, would have the stamina to go through the face-to-face ritual at the County Building.
Once completed and filed with the Assessor, the Senior-Freeze documentation sometimes takes several months to be reviewed and approved. If and when the exemption finally is approved, the Assessor issues of Certificate of Error so the homeowner can receive a corrected tax bill from the Cook County Treasurer. It usually takes 60 to 90 days to actually receive an approved tax refund in the mail.
If there is a mortgage on the property, the senior homeowner’s lender likely will continue escrowing money for taxes at the former higher rate based on the latest tax bill. This process will go on until a corrected tax bill is issued.
One North Side senior, who qualified for the Senior Freeze based on his income, applied and followed all the rules, said his lender still hiked the monthly escrow payment by $2,000 to cover the second installment 2024 tax-bill hike which was due December 15, 2025.
Although a Certificate of Error was issued by the Assessor in early January, the property owner is still waiting for a corrected tax bill and refund from the Treasurer.
Other exemptions offered
Since 2019, the Assessor’s office has been given authority to auto-renew several exemptions, including the general Senior Exemption, available to all homeowners who are age 65 regardless of income, as long as they reside in their primary residence. This category has increased 16% since 2019, Kaegi reports.
In addition, the Persons with Disabilities Exemption, and several categories of the Veterans with Disability exemptions also can be auto-renewed. Between 2023 and 2024, Cook County homeowners receiving the veteran’s exemption has increased to 5,300 from 3,100, according to the Assessor.
Government is hungry for cash
Despite the palpable struggle of low-income senior citizens to pay their soaring property taxes, bills in Cook County rose a record 16.7% in 2024. Taxes are paid a year in arrears.
Critics charge that these increases are driven by government’s insatiable appetite for more revenue and spending. In 2024, the combined tax levies of Chicago-area governments grew by $528.6 million to a mountain-sized $8.87 billion.
Currently, Illinois’ annual real estate tax rate is 2.01% of a home’s value. The tax bill on a single-family home valued at $332,700 (the median home value in the U.S.) now is $6,694.
Illinois is closing in on New Jersey, the state with the highest property taxes in the nation at a rate of 2.11%. In New Jersey, the bill on a median priced $454,400 is $9,590.
In Wisconsin, where taxes average only 1.42% of value, the bill on a similar-priced home is $4,734. In Taxes average only 0.74%% of property value. In the Hoosier state the bill on a home priced at $332,700 is only $2,461.
Wonder why the Chicago Bears are thinking about moving to Hammond, Indiana?
For more housing and softball news, visit www.dondebat.biz. Don DeBat, a 1999 Softball HOF inductee, is writing a book titled “Chicago’s Game.” DeBat also is co-author of “Escaping Condo Jail,” the ultimate survival guide for condominium living. Visit www.escapingcondojail.com.
