Politics

White, Wealthy Voters More Likely to Decide Whether to Hike Taxes in Cook County: Report

Cook County voters in eight municipalities will be asked April 1 to hike property taxes to fund a variety of programs and projects, including expanded fire protection, renovated schools, resurfaced roads and new parks.

The decisive votes on those ballot measures will likely be cast by voters who live in wealthy communities where the majority of residents are White and own a home, according to a new report from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas.

Voters who live in communities where the majority of residents are Black or Latino and rent are far more likely to skip ballot questions that ask them to hike property taxes, according to the second analysis from Pappas’ research team to examine voting patterns on tax hikes in Cook County.

The report released Wednesday was the first to compare income, racial and home ownership characteristics with the number of voters who weighed in on measures authorizing the issuance of new debt, which is backed with property tax revenue, or tax hikes.

Overall, few voters decided to weigh in on the measures, which have helped fuel the increase in property taxes across Cook County, according to the report.

“This perpetuates a pattern of leaving crucial pocketbook decisions up to a few motivated voters,” according to the report.

The eight property tax-related referendums up for a vote include a proposal to borrow $45 million in Western Springs to repair the village’s infrastructure and a proposal to increase property taxes in Palatine Township to provide “community mental health facilities and services for the person with a developmental disability, mental health disorder, or substance use disorder.”

In 2024, Cook County voters approved 26 of 35 ballot measures that sought to hike taxes. An average of 45.9% voters cast a ballot in those races, according to the report from Pappas’ office.

That was slightly better than the turnout during elections in 2021 and 2023, where only one in five registered voters determined the outcome of ballot measures that approved $275 million in new debt and hiked taxes by $7.1 million, according to the report.

In taxing districts where the median household income is $150,000, nearly 60% of voters weighed in on ballot measures that hiked taxes, according to the report. By comparison, turnout was just 34% on those questions in communities where the median household income was below the county median of $81,797, according to the report.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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