Chicago Homeowners Could See $200 in Property Tax Relief

Earlier this month, the City Council voted 38-to-12 in favor of Mayor Daley's proposed $6.1 billion budget, which included a property tax relief program for qualified Chicago homeowners. The funds would be funneled from the infamous 75-year, $1.15 billion deal to privatize the city's parking meters.

The City of Chicago's Property Tax Relief Program "is meant to provide relief between $25 and $200 to City homeowners hit hardest by increases to their 2008 property tax bill for their primary residence," wrote Mayor Daley on the program's website. "This program is needed largely because of the phase-out of the state law that put a 7 percent cap on the annual increase in the taxable value of home property, and because the drop of this year's exemption under that law went to $20,000 from $26,000."