With the next installment of property taxes due in less than a month, some Cook County homeowners in the south and southwest suburbs are worrying about where they’ll find the money.

That’s because many residents saw steep increases to their bills — with median homeowners seeing a 20% rise — when property reassassments shifted more of the tax burden away from commercial properties.

That increase was even bigger in some suburbs. In 15 towns, of which all but two are home to a majority of Black residents, the increase was at least 30%. In two of those towns — Dixmoor and Phoenix — the median tax bill more than doubled, according to the analysis. 

But some local leaders are pledging not to raise municipal taxes in order to ease the impact on community members.

One of those individuals is Mayor Christopher Clark of Harvey who has called for a “Hold the Tax’’ initiative. This would mean a 0% increase on the city’s tax levy — a number enacted by the town and paid through property taxes.

He’s encouraging mayors from the surrounding suburbs to do the same, adding that they are all in the same boat.

“What this does for the next tax bill is it gives the taxpayer an idea what their next meal will be like so they can plan,” Clark said. “In the meantime, it buys us a little time to have that conversation with our state and county leaders to try to figure out how we can fix this problem.”

Mayor Joseph Woods of south suburban Park Forest has been continuing to ensure there won’t be cuts in services for his residents but said this change is still catastrophic for the community.

“So we’re really at a point where we just have to really change the system in Cook County,” Woods said. “We, for the last three years, have really been engaging with the assessor’s office to No. 1, really make sure that they see what we see. To see the inconsistency, to see the lack of uniformity.”

According to new analysis from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office, 13 of the 15 suburbs hardest hit this year are home to a majority of Black residents. Residents in this area already pay the highest tax rates in Cook County, making the increases harder for many homeowners to handle.

“Harvey is a predominantly Black community,” Clark said. “What I’m trying to figure out is how there is such a disparity, that the hardest hit communities just by chance happen to be Black? … No matter how much we put together the numbers, at the end of the day, if the people can’t pay it, it doesn’t matter.”

Heather Cherone contributed to this report.

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