Customer Service
Improving public information accessibility and customer service are top priorities for the Reform Group.
The Civic Consulting Alliance compared Cook County’s practices to other large counties and interviewed key stakeholders to help us make changes. Their report, including recommendations, is available here.
Data Management
In 2015, President Toni Preckwinkle and the County Board began transitioning a modern data management system for property taxes. When fully complete, the new system is projected to save Cook County $5.3 million annually.
Guidehouse, a consulting firm the County retained as project manager on the transition, made a tracker to keep the public aware of progress. It is available below.
Annual Reports
The Reform Group is committed to helping the public judge our work and the credibility of the entire property tax system. We intend to public annual report to help the public evaluate our progress towards effective reform. It will include our improvements to policy and operations, the research initiatives we are pursuing, and objective measures of the assessment system’s performance.
Our 2025 annual report will be available in early 2026.
Sales Ratio Studies
Sales ratio studies are considered the gold standard to measure assessment fairness by the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO), and they are used by jurisdictions around the world. They examine accuracy and equity by comparing assessed property values to actual market sales data.
Annual sales ratio studies will be available here upon publication.