Mayor Richard M. Daley today reminded homeowners they can act today to assure that their home value reflects the nation’s slowing economy before tax bills go out next year.

"Property owners who have not appealed since their last reassessment and who believe the value of their property has decreased in that time now have an opportunity to go before the Cook County Board of Review," Daley said a City Hall news conference at which he was joined by the three commissioners of the Board of Review and suburban Mayors and City Managers.

Such an appeal will affect the tax bill to be mailed in fall, 2009, and not the tax bill recently received by Cook County property owners. The Board is now open to receive appeals.

"When property tax bills went out two weeks ago, many homeowners throughout Cook County were shocked to see that their bills had increased. In Chicago, many homeowners saw increases of $700 or more," Daley said.

"The officials joining me today share my concern that assessments should not be increasing when values are clearly decreasing. They also agree that we need to look to the future and create a property tax assessment system that ensures predictability and fairness are reflected in property tax bills," he said.

He pointed out that bills for most homeowners would have been lower had two things happened:

The bills had been based on the lower home values many property owners experienced last year, and not on the property’s 2006 value.