South Cook News

Brian Mullins, president of the Illinois Black Contractors Association, wants local residents in the Southland of Chicago to be more aware of and involved in their local politics, because not paying attention can have serious consequences.

Currently, South Cook County residents have the April municipal elections, and taking center stage is a looming property tax problem, Mullins told South Cook News. The problems faced by homeowners when they don’t pay attention to new property taxes being voted in by their elected officials are especially significant for the city’s black homeowners.

“Far too often the citizens of the Southland vote people into office without us understanding why we are supporting candidates,” Mullins said. “These elected officials have the ability to levy property taxes against your home. Over the past 10 years, Cook County has overtaxed black homeowners. This has led to foreclosure, tax sales and loss of land.”

Mullins said that residents in the Southland need to be involved if they expect to make any difference.

“Southland residents need to organize and demand that a relief action is granted by Cook County government,” Mullins said.

Local residents also have the potential to exert influence by pushing for one of their own to take action to improve the situation, he said.

“The newly elected chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, Robin Kelly, is from the Southland,” Mullins said. “She should be pushed by Democratic voters to place these things on the Democratic Party platform."

The passing of new property taxes is exacerbated in part by ongoing problems with unfair assessments for those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder, according to reporting by Bloomberg. In 2018 alone, Chicago had $2.2 billion in property taxes shifted from those owning the most expensive homes in the city to those owning the lowest-valued homes in the city due to unfair tax assessments.