In a newly released study, the University of Chicago’s Center for Municipal Finance analyzed Detroit’s 2016-2018 assessment data. They find that — while the average home price was $35,600 — the majority of lower-valued homes (less than $19,000 sale price) were assessed in excess of the Michigan Constitution’s established limit. Due in large part to systematic overcharging, Detroit has one of the highest property tax foreclosure rates of any city since the Great Depression.

Langowski's presentation regarding the Center's R package and related code, and its use in our property tax evaluations, begins at minute 50:00.

"Christopher Berry, academic director for the Center for Municipal Finance and one of the study's authors, said it's unfortunate that the reappraisal did not fix the overassessments.

'After having studied a lot of jurisdictions around the country, Detroit is not the only place that has this problem. But it is one of the worst that I've seen,' Berry said."

"A researcher cited in the lawsuit found that a quarter of Detroit’s lowest valued homes would now have gone into tax foreclosure had they been accurately assessed."

"An across the board cut of assessments for all properties value $30,000 and under (University of Chicago professor Christopher Berry says he’s found the city continues to assess its lowest-value homes at inflated rates, even after the recent re-assessment)"

"And those inflated assessments contributed directly to Wayne County's flood of tax foreclosures, according to new research by professors Bernadette Atuahene and Christopher Berry, published last week in the UC-Irvine Law."

"In 2015, if you’d asked property tax expert Christopher Berry about the work he did for the Cook County Assessor’s Office, he would have said it was “a textbook example of how to do policy reform.”

“'Berrios issued a virtually identical press release in 2015, and it turned out to be completely false,' said Berry, a longtime critic of Berrios’ assessment methods. 'Why would anyone believe him this time? If they really have done what they claim, they should immediately release all their data and code for the public to see.'

Still, Berry said, dramatically higher assessments in booming areas of the city like Edgewater 'could be an indication that the model could be getting more accurate. ... It’s virtually impossible not to improve their model.'”

“'Everyone — even the assessor — now agrees that the system is regressive,' Berry said. 'But I wanted to know how much money is at stake. The answer is easily in the billions. These dollars are being taken from some of our citizens who can least afford it and used to pay the taxes of the wealthy. It’s unconscionable.'”

"The most valuable homes in Chicago were undertaxed by an estimated $800 million over a five-year period, with the bottom 70 percent of houses picking up the burden, according to a new report from the University of Chicago’s Center for Municipal Finance."

"It is the first attempt to quantify the impact of well-documented disparities in the county's assessment process, a topic that has dominated the re-election campaign of besieged Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios. The report will provide more fodder for his two challengers, Fritz Kaegi and Andrea Ralia, who are trying to unseat Berrios in the March 20 Democratic primary."

“'We don’t need another study to tell us the system stinks,' said University of Chicago public policy professor Christopher Berry, who studied the system while developing a new residential valuation model for the county that was never implemented. 'If Toni Preckwinkle doesn’t believe the studies already done by the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois, the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Tribune, then she is simply choosing not to see the truth right in front of her face. She is siding with Joe Berrios over the truth, and over her constituents.'”

"An unprecedented analysis by the Tribune reveals that for years the county’s property tax system created an unequal burden on residents, handing huge financial breaks to homeowners who are well-off while punishing those who have the least, particularly people living in minority communities."

"A Tribune investigative team, led by Jason Grotto and with the assistance of the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, just dropped a massive and fascinating report on the property tax system in Cook County and how assessments are skewed to undervalue expensive homes and overvalue inexpensive ones."

In a newly released study, the University of Chicago’s Center for Municipal Finance analyzed Detroit’s 2016-2018 assessment data. They find that — while the average home price was $35,600 — the majority of lower-valued homes (less than $19,000 sale price) were assessed in excess of the Michigan Constitution’s established limit. Due in large part to systematic overcharging, Detroit has one of the highest property tax foreclosure rates of any city since the Great Depression.

Langowski's presentation regarding the Center's R package and related code, and its use in our property tax evaluations, begins at minute 50:00.

"Christopher Berry, academic director for the Center for Municipal Finance and one of the study's authors, said it's unfortunate that the reappraisal did not fix the overassessments.

'After having studied a lot of jurisdictions around the country, Detroit is not the only place that has this problem. But it is one of the worst that I've seen,' Berry said."

"A researcher cited in the lawsuit found that a quarter of Detroit’s lowest valued homes would now have gone into tax foreclosure had they been accurately assessed."

"An across the board cut of assessments for all properties value $30,000 and under (University of Chicago professor Christopher Berry says he’s found the city continues to assess its lowest-value homes at inflated rates, even after the recent re-assessment)"

"And those inflated assessments contributed directly to Wayne County's flood of tax foreclosures, according to new research by professors Bernadette Atuahene and Christopher Berry, published last week in the UC-Irvine Law."

"In 2015, if you’d asked property tax expert Christopher Berry about the work he did for the Cook County Assessor’s Office, he would have said it was “a textbook example of how to do policy reform.”

“'Berrios issued a virtually identical press release in 2015, and it turned out to be completely false,' said Berry, a longtime critic of Berrios’ assessment methods. 'Why would anyone believe him this time? If they really have done what they claim, they should immediately release all their data and code for the public to see.'

Still, Berry said, dramatically higher assessments in booming areas of the city like Edgewater 'could be an indication that the model could be getting more accurate. ... It’s virtually impossible not to improve their model.'”

“'Everyone — even the assessor — now agrees that the system is regressive,' Berry said. 'But I wanted to know how much money is at stake. The answer is easily in the billions. These dollars are being taken from some of our citizens who can least afford it and used to pay the taxes of the wealthy. It’s unconscionable.'”

"The most valuable homes in Chicago were undertaxed by an estimated $800 million over a five-year period, with the bottom 70 percent of houses picking up the burden, according to a new report from the University of Chicago’s Center for Municipal Finance."

"It is the first attempt to quantify the impact of well-documented disparities in the county's assessment process, a topic that has dominated the re-election campaign of besieged Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios. The report will provide more fodder for his two challengers, Fritz Kaegi and Andrea Ralia, who are trying to unseat Berrios in the March 20 Democratic primary."

“'We don’t need another study to tell us the system stinks,' said University of Chicago public policy professor Christopher Berry, who studied the system while developing a new residential valuation model for the county that was never implemented. 'If Toni Preckwinkle doesn’t believe the studies already done by the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois, the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Tribune, then she is simply choosing not to see the truth right in front of her face. She is siding with Joe Berrios over the truth, and over her constituents.'”

"An unprecedented analysis by the Tribune reveals that for years the county’s property tax system created an unequal burden on residents, handing huge financial breaks to homeowners who are well-off while punishing those who have the least, particularly people living in minority communities."

"A Tribune investigative team, led by Jason Grotto and with the assistance of the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, just dropped a massive and fascinating report on the property tax system in Cook County and how assessments are skewed to undervalue expensive homes and overvalue inexpensive ones."