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Do you rent? Why your rent may be going up – and how much. Do you own? How you’ll be charged for new garbage fees that start this month. 3-May-16 – Hefty spring rent hikes are on the horizon for Chicago’s apartment dwellers – especially for renters in neighborhoods outside downtown, analysts say. Tens of thousands of beleaguered “Ma and Pa” landlords are preparing to be walloped with extraordinary real estate tax hikes reflecting 30-percent-plus assessment increases when second installment bills arrive in early August. Experts say the 2015 increases handed out last year by Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios reflect the reassessment of the entire City of Chicago. Tens of thousands of properties were slapped with large assessment increases ranging from 30 to 55 percent, according to a spot survey by The Home Front. “If the 33 percent assessment increase we received translates into a 33 percent tax hike, we will need to bump our rents more than $2,000 a year,” said the owner of a Logan Square four-flat. “That means a $75-a-month increase on a typical three-bedroom apartment.” Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the city needs to raise $588 million in new revenue to pay for pensions of teachers, police, and firefighters. The Chicago property tax wallop comes at a time when Illinois already is recognized for the dubious achievement of posting the highest median property tax rate in the nation, not to mention the highest sales tax rate in America. A new coast-to-coast analysis of property taxes by Core Logic revealed that various Illinois agencies and governmental entities now take a combined 2.67 percent real estate tax bite. That means that an Illinois homeowner with a residence valued at $200,000 will, on average, pay annual property taxes of $5,320. In contrast, the national median property tax rate is 1.31 percent. So, an owner of a $200,000 home in Indiana, Missouri, or Iowa likely pays a property tax bill of only $2,620. Garbage fees start soon As if the real estate tax bite was not enough, homeowners and landlords of small rental properties should beware of the new “Garbage Fees of Rahm,” because starting in May, Chicago’s new refuse charges also will kick in. Single-family homeowners will pay a garbage fee of $19 every other month, or a total of $114 a year retroactive to January 2016. Two-flat owners will pay a $38 garbage fee every other month, or a total of $228 from January through December this year. Three-flat owners will pay a garbage fee of $57 on alternate months, or $342 for the year. The garbage fee for four-unit buildings will be $76 every other month, or $456 per year. Garbage fees will be included in the city’s first unified utility bill, which will reflect two months of water, sewer, and garbage charges.
The May bill will also include two months of “catch-up” billing for garbage services received in January and February 2016. Therefore, in May the owner of a typical North Side four-flat, who currently pays $198 every two months for water and sewer charges, will be billed an additional $304 for garbage fees covering January, February, March, and April. That’s a total of $502 in one bill. With garbage fee shock like that blowing in the wind, it is not surprising that the City of Chicago – in a rare act of kindness – is waiving all late-payment penalties for the garbage fee in 2016. Landlords and homeowners can space out their catch-up garbage fee charges over multiple utility bills without any additional late fees. Payment plans available There are multiple utility bill payment plan options available to property owners. A 50 percent discount rate ($4.75 per month per home or apartment unit) is available to low-income seniors who are enrolled in the Cook County Assessor’s Senior Freeze Exemption program… For more information on the Chicago garbage fee, call the Utility Billing Call Center at 312-744-4426, or visit… |
