Property tax politics play out in the Cook County assessor's race
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
The Democratic primary for Cook County Assessor may be the nastiest of the cycle, with an incumbent's track record versus a challenger's notorious surname.
The big picture: Fritz Kaegi is running for his third term heading up the office that determines how much money you pay in property taxes.
- Kaegi, who has run as a reformer, is in the crosshairs of his political opponents after years of property tax bill confusion and delays, punctuated with in-fighting between his office and the Cook County Board of Review and the Cook County Treasurer's office.
Catch up quick: While Kaegi has said his past assessments that hit wealthier areas harder were about making the system fair for all residents, the most recent bills featured several instances of skyrocketing tax bills for residents on the South and West sides of Chicago.
- The assessor blames the higher bills on the Board of Review for giving tax relief to downtown businesses, switching the burden to neighborhoods.
Zoom out: That's where Kaegi's challenger, Lyon's Township Assessor Pat Hynes, thinks he has an advantage. Hynes, who has been the assessor in Lyons since 2021, says he brings years of property tax experience to the job.
Yes, but: You may know the Hynes name in Chicago. That family name has been synonymous with Chicago machine politics throughout the years, most notably with the late Tom Hynes, who used to be the county assessor from 1978 to 1997.
- Voters rejected machine politics in 2018 when Kaegi dispatched incumbent Joe Berrios.
The other side: No Republican is running for Cook County Assessor.
The bottom line: Plenty is on the line for this job at the center of how much Cook County residents pay in taxes.