Stroger seeks 15-fold boost in transfer levy // County Board expected to boost home-sale tax

Property sellers would have to pay a whopping 15-fold increase inCook County's tax on real estate sales under a proposal County BoardPresident John Stroger plans to ram through next week.

The tax increase would cost the seller of a $100,000 home anextra $700.

Stroger said Friday he intends to seek quick approval of theincrease at Tuesday's County Board meeting so he can head offexpected state legislation that would make it more difficult toincrease the tax.County officials acknowledged they have no definite plans on howthey will use the additional $75 million to $90 million the taxincrease is projected to generate next year.The move is highly unusual because it comes just three weeksafter the county approved a $2.2 billion balanced budget that alreadyincludes $43 million in assorted tax increases.Effective Jan. 1, the county's real estate transfer tax wouldincrease to $7.50 per $1,000 of sales price from the current 50 centsper $1,000.Darcy Dougherty, chief executive officer of the ChicagoAssociation of Realtors, said that Stroger's preemptive gambit isunconscionable, and the size of the increase excessive."This is a big detriment to property ownership," Dougherty said,noting that it comes on top of the state's real estate transfer taxand individual transfer taxes levied by 49 municipalities in CookCounty. Chicago already charges real estate buyers a transfer fee of$7.50 per $1,000.Home sellers did not welcome the idea.Chick Hall of Northbrook, whose family will be selling theirhome next month and buying another in the village, was angered."I'm not happy," he said. "It's pretty outrageous that theywould do it without customary notification. People are making theirdecisions on whether to close in December or January without all thefacts," said Hall, a baker who has two teens living at home.County officials said they were left with no choice because ofthe expectation that the Legislature will require home rulegovernments, such as Cook County, to hold a referendum before theycould increase the transfer tax. That measure, sought by theIllinois Association of Realtors, was approved by the House last weekand is expected to clear the Senate when it returns for a two-daysession Jan. 6.Andrea Brands, a spokeswoman for Stroger, said he decided toincrease the tax "in preparation for 1998," when the county isexpected to have additional budget difficulties.By raising the transfer tax now, the county hopes to avoidincreasing its sales tax for 1998, an option that was expected to bestrongly considered, Brands said."The transfer tax was probably the most palatable and theeasiest to implement," she said. "It's not something anyone wantedto do."Brands said the county might reserve the money collected in thecoming year so that it will be available for the following year, orit might choose to pay off some short-term borrowing.Commissioner Richard Siebel, a Republican, said Stroger shouldimmediately reduce the county's property tax levy by an amount equalto the transfer tax revenue. Brands said some property tax abatementis possible.Another Republican commissioner, Carl Hansen, questioned thelegality of enacting a tax increase that would generate more revenuethan what the county said it needs for the current budget year.But Stroger announced that he has near-unanimous support amongDemocrats, who constitute a majority on the board.Mary Schaefer, communications director for the IllinoisAssociation of Realtors, said the planned Cook County increase is"symptomatic of the entire problem" with transfer taxes and how theyare enacted.Schaefer said the legislation would "allow taxpayers to have asay" in the imposition of a transfer tax."We have found that many buyers and sellers don't know of theexistence of these taxes until they go to buy or sell," she said.Gary Summers, a broker at ReMax Professional in Bolingbrook,said, "It's the same old crap. Government has become terriblyconfiscatory." However, he added, "I don't think people buy or sellbased on the fact that there is, or is not, a transfer tax."Summers noted that Bolingbrook's municipal transfer tax rate of$7.50 per $1,000 is among the highest in the state.In Barrington, which is divided between Lake and Cook counties,Mary Larson of ERA Bell & Snell real estate agreed with Summers."I don't think (an increase) will affect selling or buying.It'll just come as a shock at closing," she said.Contributing: Ernest Tucker