Feb 8, 2010 10:38 pm US/Central
Some Property Owners Owe Thousands In Back Taxes
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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This North Side home was purchased in 2005 for $670,000, but for four years the county listed the new owners' tax bill as a big fat zero.
CBS
Almost 14,000 properties in Cook County are exempt from property taxes because they're owned by a religious organization. But what happens when they're sold to private individuals? Viewers paying high property taxes were outraged to find neighbors paying no taxes at all -- and complained to CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman.
A North side home was purchased in 2005 for $670,000, but for four years the county listed the new owners' tax bill as a big fat zero.
CBS 2 had to check that one out. Standing in the doorway, we spoke briefly to the owner.
"I have never gotten a tax bill until yesterday, never," the owner said.
The bill finally came after a neighbor complained to the Assessor's office and CBS 2.
The owner also said, "I will absolutely not do an interview."
She isn't talking, but documents are. After the First Methodist Church of Irving Park sold the tax exempt property, it should have gone back on the tax rolls. But it didn't.
Now the Assessor's office says the homeowners owe more than $30,000 in back taxes.
The same thing happened after another property CBS 2 found was sold by the Chicago Sunni Muslim society to a businessman in 2006. Now the Assessor's office says the owner owes a whopping $43,279 in back taxes.
So why didn't these properties get back on the rolls sooner? We talked to the County Assessor's Office, the Recorder of Deeds and the Ill. Dept. of Revenue -- which all have a role in transferring tax exempt properties back onto the tax rolls.
The Recorder of Deeds and Revenue Department should have sent the Assessor's office records documenting when the properties were sold in 2006.
However, the Assessor says the ultimate responsibility is with the new property owner, who is required by state law to notify his office within 30 days of the sale.
Property tax consultant Andrea Raila says people don't know that it's their responsibility to send in a certified letter. She knows this from clients she represents; people like a Tinley Park homeowner who tried to notify the Assessor's office in person.
"After four years of going to the Maywood office, of going down to the central offices, telling them please put my house on the tax rolls," Raila said, "After all that, he got a pile of bills that totaled $36,000."
So how does that affect everybody else who pays their taxes?
"It's damaging because others in the tax system have to pay a greater share," Raila said.
Under the best case scenario, a spokesman for the Assessor's office says tax exempt properties of all kinds are restored to the tax rolls within two years. A total of 1,944 were in 2007 and 2008.
The owners of both properties featured in this report say they have set aside money in an escrow account to pay their taxes, and will do it when they get their tax bill. And they said they had no intent to evade paying their taxes.
Click here for more information on how to get an exempt property back on the tax rolls.
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