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Michael Markellos, who owns a 10-unit complex with his mother, will now owe $17,494 in property taxes on a one-bedroom apartment for a year.
“This has put us in a tremendous financial bind, the building has gone negative on bills,” he said. abc 7 chicago.
The news outlet shared that the prior year’s tax bill for the 10 residences totaled $23,674. This year, the Markellos family owes $128,282, an increase of 440%.
Markellos said he is outraged by the increase and that he does not own a luxury complex but rather “simple one-bedroom units for college grads working downtown.”
He indicated that he would have to increase the rent to $5,000 or $6,000 per unit to pay his bills. However, he also acknowledged that “nobody in their right mind would pay that”, so it is not a viable option.
A lawyer representing Markellos and her mother is appealing to the Board of Review and the Cook County Assessor’s office, the latter of which determines property values.
Markellos said he may have to file for bankruptcy if his tax bill doesn’t adjust.
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ABC 7 spoke to the Assessor’s Office, who told their reporter that the apartments were previously “unfairly classified as commercial properties. As of 2021, they are now considered residential properties.”
Supposedly, this reclassification led to the 440% increase in the tax bill.
This isn’t the first time Cook County property taxes have been in the news lately. In October, residents faced a property tax nightmare as tax refund payments were months behind and are now being processed in December.
The obvious problem here is that if property taxes are delayed further to 2023, or if there are delivery issues, Chicagoland residents will not be able to cancel their 2022 income tax payments.
Visit to the officer Cook County Assessor’s Office website if you have questions.
Cook County, which includes Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, has a population of 5.17 million as of the 2020 United States Census. The county is home to Over 40% of all Illinois residents.
What do you think of the situation of the Markellos family?
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