Which year does the property tax line on a Western Springs listing actually describe? This fall the answer is further back than most buyers assume. Cook County reassesses one-third of the county each year. The south and west suburbs were last reassessed in 2023, and the Assessor released new Lyons Township values on July 24, 2026. The Assessor's office says plainly that values certified in 2026 will affect second-installment tax bills issued in 2027.
So a buyer comparing homes on Hillgrove or Woodland this October is looking at a tax figure from the last assessment cycle. The more useful question is how the new values will be spread across the taxing districts that make up a Western Springs bill. A reassessment percentage on its own does not answer it.
Three dates that sit between a listing sheet and a 2027 bill
The bill most sellers can show right now is for tax year 2025. Cook County made those second-installment bills available online beginning August 18, about two months late. The County blamed the delay on a technology overhaul that had a cascading effect on tax processes. They were due October 1, 2026, according to the Cook County Treasurer.
| Step | Date | What it means for a fall 2026 buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Lyons reassessment notices mailed | July 23, 2026 | New market values exist but are not yet on any bill |
| Assessor appeal window closed | September 3, 2026 | First round of value challenges is finished |
| Tax year 2025 second installment due | October 1, 2026 | Still calculated on the pre-reassessment base |
| 2026 values reach bills | Second installment issued in 2027 | The first bill a new owner sees may look different |
A home bought this fall changes hands between those rows. The closing documents reflect the old base, and the new owner's bill will reflect the reassessment.
A reassessment is a change in shares, not a price increase
The township figures make it easy to think every bill will rise by the same amount. A private Cook County tax-appeal firm, Cook County Tax Appeal, analyzed the notices. It found the median Lyons Township home assessment rose 25.1% from 2025 final to 2026 notice, and that 96.9% of the township's 38,177 homes went up. Those are the firm's figures, not an official Assessor neighborhood report.
A 25% higher assessment does not produce a 25% higher bill, because of how Cook County builds a tax bill. The Assessor's Lyons residential valuation report lays out the chain:
- A home's assessed value is 10% of the Assessor's estimated market value.
- The countywide state equalizer is applied to that assessed value.
- Exemptions are subtracted, which leaves the taxable equalized assessed value, or EAV.
- The tax rate is applied to that taxable EAV.
The rate is the part that moves. The Civic Federation's property tax extension primer describes the levy as the amount a taxing body seeks. The Cook County Clerk then sets the rate by dividing the authorized extension by the district's total EAV. When EAV rises across a whole district and the levy does not rise with it, the rate falls. A home's bill then depends on whether its value rose faster or slower than the district total.
Levies are also constrained. Under the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law, annual extension growth for non-home-rule taxing bodies is generally limited to the lesser of 5% or inflation. The Civic Federation notes that exclusions and structural features can allow growth beyond the nominal cap. If every home in a district rose by exactly the same percentage and the levy held flat, the rate would fall by about the same proportion, and bills would barely move. Lyons Township did not rise evenly, and that is where Western Springs comes in.
The township's top end moved faster than its middle
The same tax-appeal firm reported that total residential assessed value in Lyons Township rose 29.6%, compared with the 25.1% median. Its reading is that increases were larger at the top of the market. It also suggests homes in Western Springs, Burr Ridge and Hinsdale be compared against similar homes rather than against the township figure.
Western Springs sits well above the township's middle. The Assessor's report puts the 2025 median single-family sale price across Lyons Township at $462,000, and the Assessor's median 2026 estimate for that class at $418,000. MLS figures for July through September 2026 show 36 closed sales in Western Springs at a median sale price of $1,023,000, up 29% from the same quarter a year earlier. Seventy-five percent of those sales closed at or above asking. In this cycle, a village whose prices run more than double the township median falls within the part of the market where the firm's analysis found increases running ahead of the median.
That matters because Lyons Township spans a wide range of communities. The Assessor lists all or part of Lyons, Western Springs, Willow Springs, Countryside, Hodgkins, Indian Head Park, Justice, La Grange, McCook, Bedford Park, Bridgeview, Brookfield, Burr Ridge, Summit and Hickory Hills. Any taxing body whose boundaries cross several of those places divides its levy across homes that were all revalued at once, at different rates. A Western Springs home that rose faster than its district's total would carry a larger share of that district's levy. A home that rose more slowly would carry a smaller one.
What a Western Springs bill is made of
To see where that share shifts, look at the bill's components. The Cook County Clerk released tax year 2025 rates on September 23, 2026. Total tax billed countywide rose from $19.2 billion to about $19.9 billion, a 3.8% increase. According to the Clerk's 2025 tax rate report, Western Springs' average composite rate was 7.833910, up 4.17% from 7.520203 in 2024. The Clerk notes this is an average, not a single rate for every parcel. Rates are stated per $100 of taxable value.
| Taxing body | 2024 rate | 2025 rate | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| School District 101 | 3.234494 | 3.355362 | 3.74% |
| Lyons Township High School District 204 | 1.996531 | 2.080182 | 4.19% |
| Village of Western Springs | 0.863249 | 0.963799 | 11.65% |
| Village of Western Springs Library Fund | 0.203761 | 0.211031 | 3.57% |
| Cook County | 0.390469 | 0.355954 | -8.84% |
| Metropolitan Water Reclamation District | 0.340445 | 0.336556 | -1.14% |
| DuPage Community College District 502 | 0.195323 | 0.201631 | 3.23% |
| La Grange Highlands Sanitary District | 0.196117 | 0.193729 | -1.22% |
| Western Springs Park District | 0.116921 | 0.120979 | 3.47% |
Two things in this table bear on the reassessment. School districts carry the largest weight, with District 101 and LTHS 204 together accounting for more than 5.4 of the 7.8 points. Those are the levies whose spread across newly revalued homes will shape most of the change. The Clerk's schedule also lists School Districts 102 and 106 and Proviso Township components as partially or fully within the village. The exact combination therefore depends on a parcel's tax code, which is why a neighbor's bill is an unreliable stand-in for a home under contract.
The next round of levy decisions is already on the calendar. Thomas Ford Memorial Library minutes from October 2025 show its budget and levies going to the Library Board in early December before being forwarded to the County. The Western Springs Park District says it adopts its calendar-year budget in December after a public meeting in November and/or December. Those levies, divided by the reassessed base, will produce the rates on the 2027 bill.
The values are not final yet
The July notice is not the number that will be billed. The Assessor's open-data documentation distinguishes mailed values, Assessor-certified values and Board-certified values. It notes that current-year values can change before Board review and certification.
According to the tax-appeal firm, 11,844 residential appeals were filed with the Assessor before the September 3 deadline. The Cook County Board of Review is the next stage. As of early October, its appeals portal listed Lyons among pre-file townships and showed no open townships. The firm's count of tax year 2025 outcomes shows how much the two stages differed in Lyons. The Assessor reduced 480 of 4,162 residential appeals, or 11.5%. The Board of Review reduced 2,590 of 6,545, or 39.6%. Each reduction lowers that parcel's value and the district's total EAV, which changes every other parcel's relative share of the levy. So the final shares, and the rates built on them, won't settle until the Board certifies.
Lyons Township Assessor Pat Hynes held neighborhood outreach sessions during the reassessment. Desplaines Valley News reported that he described the reassessed value as a three-year baseline unless it is appealed or circumstances change. For a home bought this fall, the value certified in 2026 will likely underpin the owner's first few years of bills.
Frequently asked questions
Does the 25% township figure mean a Western Springs tax bill will rise 25%? No. The figure describes assessed value, and bills depend on levies divided across each district's total EAV, plus the equalizer and exemptions. A home's bill moves with how its value changed compared with the rest of its taxing districts.
Where does a property's 2026 estimated market value appear? On the Reassessment Notice mailed July 23, 2026. The Assessor's Lyons residential report says a home's neighborhood code, which groups similar homes for comparison, appears on that notice and on the property's PIN detail page.
When will the Board of Review open for Lyons Township? As of early October 2026, the Board had not posted an open window for Lyons. Its dates and deadlines page carries the township schedule.
When we review a Western Springs home with clients this season, we pull its 2026 notice and tax code alongside the listing so the tax conversation starts from the right year. If you're weighing a purchase or sale before the 2027 bills arrive, K&J Homes would be glad to go through those figures with you. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
