Darryl Lloyd bought a 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom home in an unincorporated suburban community outside of Chicago in 2006. The humble 1950s home was valued at $180,000 in 2023, for which he paid $1,800 in taxes. Recently, Cook County valued the home at $1 million, demanding that Lloyd cough up $30,000 in property taxes, an increase of 3,811% from what it was 20 years ago. The home is a mere 960 square feet on one level, with no basement. The houses in Lloyd’s neighborhood are modest as well, prompting even more confusion on his part. “Nothing over here is worth $1 million,” he said. Before throwing in the towel and moving forward with his initial plans to move, Lloyd decided to fight the bill. He made a trip to the Cook County Tax Assessor’s Office, an effort that proved both fruitless and frustrating. He was met with, “Everybody’s taxes increased.” Fox affiliate, WFLD, got involved and was told, “This property was given an incorrect assessment due to a permit that was unintentionally applied to the property. We will process a corrected tax bill for this property in the coming weeks.” Lloyd is not alone — he’s just one property owner that got the attention of the media. Lloyd is now waiting for a certificate of error, though the assessor's office gave no exact timeline.
