How we're making the Assessor's Office more accessible and fair.
Since taking office in 2018, Assessor Kaegi has brought fairness, ethics, and transparency to the Assessor’s Office with a vision focused on operational changes and technological upgrades. These awards and achievements are a testament to the office's commitment to streamlining processes for property owners and making it easier to access our services. Please read the award details below.
National Association of Counties (NACo)
Leading with Digital Data Integrity
As frontline professionals, field inspectors must conduct precise, rigorous site assessments of homes and businesses to ensure data is accurately collected. Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi created the Data Integrity Department to ensure this data is correctly captured to improve the efficiency of property characteristic updates.
The Data Integrity team captures photographs, measurements, and digital notes. They also report the evidence needed for quality control and predictive analysis. In recent years, field inspectors have focused on quantifiable results, technological upgrades, and standard processes. In particular, the Assessor’s Office has shifted from paper-based clipboards to mobile devices, utilizing GIS Field Maps and other digital applications. This process has minimized human error and ensures consistency across the department.
National Association of Counties (NACo)
Internship Program Builds a Talent Pipeline
The internship program builds a talent pipeline by creating engaging, hands-on opportunities for students. It creates a learning environment focused on developing professional experience and job readiness through skill development, industry exposure, and networking opportunities. By elevating the office’s brand presence and public perception as an employer of choice, the program fosters diversity and inclusion by facilitating intentional partnerships with underserved communities.
Investing in a student internship program enables the Assessor’s Office to build a future-ready workforce by providing early training opportunities and immersing students in meaningful skill-building experiences. This approach supports innovation and strengthens public-service career pathways. The internship program further elevates the office’s visibility and credibility with academic institutions, professional associations, taxpayers, and community partners as a premier destination for emerging talent.
National Association of Counties (NACo)
Targeted Campaign to Reach Homeowners Experiencing a Property Tax Spike
In anticipation of 2024 property tax bills, the Cook County Assessor’s Office (CCAO) identified a critical issue: rising property values would cause thousands of previously exempt homeowners to incur property tax liabilities for the first time in years. This shift was driven by market-based assessment requirements under state law, particularly impacting historically affordable neighborhoods.
To proactively support approximately 5,000 affected, the CCAO conducted a targeted outreach initiative to increase awareness and uptake of eligible tax-saving exemptions before bills were issued. The program included strategic advertising, direct mail campaigns, and community workshops in impacted areas. Homeowners were able to leverage exemptions that reduced the taxable value of their property.
As a result, homeowners were better informed and equipped to mitigate potential tax increases, improving access to relief programs and supporting more equitable outcomes.
National Association of Counties (NACo)
New IT helpdesk centralizing standardized technical support
The IT Department launched a centralized helpdesk portal to standardize technical support services. The portal replaced informal email requests with a structured service management platform that serves employees, township assessors, and partnered county agencies. There are now dedicated workflows, triaging to the appropriate staff in the application development team. Requests pertain to the public facing website, internal application changes, and supply requests, online subscription tracking, renewals, and project planning.
The portal serves as a single point for IT and other departments. As a result, the portal has improved transparency, response tracking, accountability and intergovernmental collaboration across the Assessor’s office and its partners.
Kiosks and Callbacks: Using Better Technology for More Efficient, Informed Public Service
Modernizing taxpayer services, the Assessor's Office adopted public-facing intake kiosks, redesigned its exemption application forms, and implemented a callback system to improve access and service delivery. These improvements enable managers and frontline employees to better manage high-volume periods by optimizing time and resource allocation across service channels. Taxpayers benefit from increased transparency. For instance, they are notified of wait times at different office locations and have callback options - to decide when and how they want to interact with the office.
As a result, the office serves more taxpayers efficiently while maximizing human and digital resources. This initiative demonstrates how targeted modernization can significantly enhance efficiency and improve the overall customer experience in public
National Association of Counties (NACo)
Empowering Homeowners through Community Engagement and Trust
Using strong customer service and public speaking skills, the CCAO Outreach team simplifies complex tax concepts for residents, offering personalized assistance to address concerns about property values and available savings. The team travels across the county, ensuring accessibility through presentations, one-on-one support, and resource fairs. In 2024, they set a record by hosting 217 events, reaching diverse communities and delivering workshops in multiple languages. The team remains committed to providing exceptional services, aiming to expand outreach and better serve their communities through accessibility.
National Association of Counties (NACo)
Explaining the property tax system using plain language and inclusive communication strategies
Beginning in 2022, the Assessor's Office began transforming commonly used forms and material though a plain language and language accessibility lens. These documents, specifically the Reassessment Notice is mailed to 1.8 million property owners in Cook County, making it the most powerful and impactful document mailed from our office. The Notice along with other material now incorporate the use of icons, infographics, terminology definitions, and chronological steps to guide the reader. Using U.S. Census data, material is now available in English, Spanish, Polish, Arabic, and Simplified Chinese languages.
National Association of Counties (NACo)
Building Partnerships with the Local Business Community & Commercial Industry
The Assessor’s office launched an outreach campaign to reach commercial property owners and the local business community. The campaign included hiring a Director of Commercial Outreach to engage and foster relationships with the business community by providing robust educational events and seminars. In addition, marketing materials, data tools were developed to support this effort. In the spirit of transparency, the office publicly released methodology data which includes the individual assessment calculation for every commercial property, making Cook County the first in the nation to release this type of reporting.
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National Association of Counties (NACo)
New Affordable Housing Program Provides Property Tax Relief
The new Affordable Housing Special Assessment Program incentivizes the rehabilitation and new construction of multi-family residential properties to create, maintain, and preserve affordable housing in Cook County. This program establishes assessment reductions for affordable multifamily rental properties subject to rent, tenant income, and other related restrictions. This new program provides improved benefits for affordable housing providers as well as low-income households by providing more expansive property tax benefits, more ways to qualify, and by encouraging the development of affordable housing in low-affordability communities.
National Association of Counties (NACo)
Strategic Engagement to Encourage Employee Retention & Recruitment
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and returning to a hybrid work environment created challenges related to employee recruitment and retention at the Assessor’s Office. Over the course of the pandemic, approximately 70 full-time employees were hired or promoted. The Human Resource Department had to quickly come up with creative strategies to foster employee engagement, boost morale, and build workplace culture. Led by HR, an Engagement Committee was developed to enable employees to engage and connect with colleagues though strategic activities ranging from learning and development, social activities, and conversations with leadership.
National Association of Counties (NACo)
2023 Achievement Award: Property Tax Simulator - PTAXSIM
This is a software code package implemented in the coding language R and is designed to recalculate changes to Cook County property tax bills. It uses real assessment, exemption, TIF, and levy data to generate historic, line-by-line tax bills for properties in Cook County from tax years 2006 to 2020. Why is this important? Policymakers, researchers, and journalists can now create historical counterfactual scenarios to determine how policy changes could impact the property tax system.
Outstanding Community Partner
Outstanding Community Partner Award from the Community Investment Corporation (CIC) and the Preservation Compact
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi and team received the Outstanding Community Partner Award from the Community Investment Corporation (CIC) and the Preservation Compact during their annual Neighborhood Forum event hosted on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. This award is a special acknowledgment to honor the work done by the Cook County Assessor's office and the partners that helped implement the Affordable Housing legislation (HB2621).
International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO)
James A. Howze, CAE, Distinguished Research and Development Award
Bringing Fairness and Transparency in Property Assessments by Building a New Residential Valuation Model
The Data Team created a new in-house residential valuation model using free software and open-source algorithms. The model has helped improve accuracy, equity, and transparency, and reduce the need for appeals for 1.1 million residential properties.
Center for Digital Government
County Project Experience Winner
Bringing Fairness and Transparency in Property Assessments by Building a New Residential Valuation Model
The Data Team created a new in-house residential valuation model using free software and open-source algorithms. The model has helped improve accuracy, equity, and transparency, and reduce the need for appeals for 1.1 million residential properties.
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National Association of Counties (NACo)
2022 Conversations about Racial Equity and Real Estate Initiative
Over the past two years, the Assessor's Office conducted a series of discussions about how race impacts our work as assessors and the ways it has had historic and current impacts on local real estate markets. Through these virtual "Racial Equity and Real Estate" conversations, experts from Princeton University, The University of Chicago, and Duke University joined local community developers, realtors, and artists for a series of rich and unique discussions.
National Association of Counties (NACo)
2022 Senior Citizens Aren't Getting Any Younger
The Assessor’s Office administers property tax exemptions for residential property owners in Cook County. These exemptions provide significant savings to senior homeowners. Prior to Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s administration, seniors were required to apply for the Senior Exemption every year, proving they are still over the age of 65. Assessor Fritz Kaegi championed a bill that amends the Illinois Property Tax Code so that a homeowner who has been granted a Senior Exemption will not need to reapply for the exemption each year.
National Association of Counties (NACo)
2022 Bringing Fairness and Transparency in Property Assessments
To provide the best services to homeowners in Cook County – the largest market-based assessment jurisdiction in the United States – Assessor Fritz Kaegi tasked the Data team with the development of a new valuation model. The goal of this was to improve assessment accuracy, equity, and transparency. Data staff created a new in-house residential valuation model using free software and open-source algorithms that was first introduced in 2019.
International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO)
2021 Public Information Award: Communication During a Global Pandemic
With the Stay at Home Order enacted by the State of Illinois, the CCAO had to close down five offices including the main downtown branch at the start of the assessment season. The CCAO’s Communications Department went into emergency response mode and developed a public information plan to convey information digitally while still considering communities with less access to technological tools.
National Association of Counties (NACo)
2021 Achievement Award: File Smarter, Not Harder: How the Assessor’s Office Went Digital
Up until 2020, the assessment of more than 1.9 million parcels still relied heavily on paper applications and forms. For the first time in the history of the Assessor’s Office, applications for both property tax exemptions and assessment appeals were fully accessible online. Under the leadership of Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, the office made a significant leap forward in the technological modernization of the third-largest assessment jurisdiction in the nation.
STATESCOOP
2020 Local IT Innovation of the Year Award: Implementation of Online Appeals
With SmartFile, property owners can file appeals online with the Assessor's Office through a dynamic, modern platform. Even during stay-at-home restrictions during COVID-19, the public could file an appeal and drastically reduce the need for in-person visits to offices.
2021 IAAO Award Video
Watch this video that highlights the 2021 IAAO Public Information Award winners. These persons and jurisdictions accepted their awards during the 2021 IAAO Annual Conference that took place last summer in Chicago and was co-hosted by the Cook County Assessor's Office.
