Commercial Property Tax Report Implementation
Client: Cook County Board of Commissioners - Office of the President, Cook County Assessor, Cook County Board of Review
Opportunity
In Cook County, concerns about how property taxes are calculated and collected have eroded public confidence in the tax assessment system, and the current system inequitably impacts Black and Brown communities. In 2023, Cook County Board President Preckwinkle established the Cook County Property Tax Reform Group (Reform Group) to provide a forum for key stakeholders – including representatives from the offices of the Cook County President, Assessor, Board of Review, County Clerk, and County Treasurer – to ensure that property assessment and tax systems produce accurate, fair, and equitable results in a timely and efficient manner.
Civic Consulting Alliance is well suited to support systemic change in our region’s tax assessment systems given our team’s subject matter knowledge, relationships with system stakeholders, and experience from related projects, such as the Cook County Assessor's Office Transformation in 2018, a comparison of Illinois’ business tax system with other states in 2020, and supporting Build Up Cook from 2021 to 2023.
Civic Consulting Alliance has supported the Reform Group since early 2023, drawing on our deep knowledge of Cook County’s property tax system and our experience convening cross-agency collaboratives—such as the Cook County Pretrial Stakeholders Group, which served as a model for the Reform Group. In December 2024, the County released an independent report with approximately 20 recommendations to improve commercial valuation practices to align with best practices, including adopting standardized valuation methods across offices and establishing improved data-sharing protocols to reduce discrepancies in assessments.
Civic Consulting Alliance was asked to support operationalizing the recommendations to improve commercial valuation practices outlined in the report.
Action
To ensure the Property Tax Recommendations could be acted on, Civic Consulting Alliance worked with County partners to operationalize an action plan through clear ownership, sequencing, and governance.
Our team:
Developed detailed initiative charters that defined objectives, milestones, owners, timelines, and funding considerations, completed through launch workshops and weekly steering committee meetings with the Cook County Assessor’s Office and Cook County Board of Review.
Facilitated a structured prioritization process, assessing initiatives based on impact, readiness, complexity, and organizational capacity to align efforts with the upcoming assessment cycle.
Designed a Project Management Office (PMO) framework that established clear meeting structures, participants, and updated cadences, enabling the County to monitor progress, coordinate stakeholders, and move recommendations from planning to implementation.
“Civic Consulting Alliance has been an invaluable partner in helping us navigate the complex process of property tax reform. Their expertise in working across departments and with elected officials has been critical in turning recommendations into actionable steps that strengthen commercial valuation practices, improve transparency, and ensure a fairer system for everyone.”
Impact
The implementation plan in response to the Analysis of Commercial Valuation Practice in the Cook County Property Tax System report will improve commercial valuation practices, strengthening Cook County’s property tax system by ensuring assessments are accurate, consistent, and transparent.
This increases fairness and credibility, reduces appeals and administrative burdens, and stabilizes County revenues by aligning tax collections with true market conditions.
Clear and equitable assessments also help distribute the tax burden fairly across property classes, protecting residential taxpayers and supporting communities that have historically been overburdened. In addition, predictable and well-documented valuation practices foster investor confidence, encourage business growth and economic development, and streamline internal processes to improve efficiency within County offices. Together, these improvements create a more reliable, equitable, and growth-oriented property tax system for Cook County.
In the years ahead, we will continue to explore opportunities to support the County and tax reform efforts.