Cook County Board of Review

What Cook County Board of Review does

The Cook County Board of Review is a quasi-judicial agency of Cook County, Illinois, established by state statute (35 ILCS 200/9-5; Public Act 89-671) as the exclusive body for adjudicating property assessment appeals across the county's 1.8 million parcels and 38 townships. It is governed by three commissioners — George A. Cardenas, Samantha Steele, and Larry Rogers, Jr. — and operates from 118 N. Clark Street, Chicago. The Board's mandate is the review and determination of residential, commercial, and industrial property assessment appeals; processing of exemptions, surviving spouse abatements, and PTAB referrals; and correction of uniformity, factual errors, and special circumstance adjustments that shape the county's approximately $13 billion annual property tax obligation. Appeal volume reached nearly 500,000 in a recent session, up roughly 350% over the past decade.

The Board's core technical asset is the Digital Appeals Processing System (DAPS), a proprietary online portal launched in 2016 that replaced a paper-based process which had previously produced more than 10 million sheets of paper. DAPS supports account creation, electronic filing, evidence upload, attorney authorization, hearing scheduling (telephonic for pro se litigants and via Microsoft TEAMS for represented parties), decision tracking, and a five-year decision-history search. The 2016 deployment eliminated over 2 million pieces of paper in a single session and earned a 2017 NACO National Achievement Award for Information Technology. Adjacent products include Tableau-based public transparency dashboards (Tax Year 2024 Assessed Values, Appeal Rate, Districts with Townships View), downloadable forms and official rules, and a 2025 pre-registration feature that lets taxpayers file before their township opens.

The Board's revenue model is non-commercial: it is funded through Cook County public tax revenues and charges no fees for any service. Its go-to-market is service-delivery oriented rather than sales-oriented, combining a self-serve digital channel (DAPS), direct in-person and mail channels at the Chicago headquarters, telephonic hearings, 153+ annual community outreach events across the county, and annual attorney education meetings now delivered via YouTube and downloadable presentations. Customer segments are split into residential pro se filers and entities (corporations, LLCs, and properties over defined unit/size thresholds) that must engage licensed attorneys, with real property attorneys serving as a key recurring user persona. The site is built to WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards and integrates with the Cook County Assessor, Property Tax Portal, Clerk, Recorder, and Treasurer offices to enable end-to-end workflow.

Name

Cook County Board of Review

Legal name

Cook County Board of Review

Website

https://cookcountyboardofreview.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1938

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Cook County Board of Review is a quasi-judicial government agency that adjudicates property tax assessment appeals for all 1.8 million parcels across Cook County's 38 townships, serving residential owners, commercial entities, and licensed real property attorneys through its DAPS digital portal and in-person channels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Property Tax Assessment Appeals

NAICS

Regulation, Licensing, and Inspection of Miscellaneous Commercial Sectors (92615)

akta.pro primary industry

Tax Assessment Appeal & Property Tax Consulting (BPAJAKAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Real Estate Valuation Review & Litigation/Dispute Support Advisory (BPAJANAK), Dispute Resolution, Appeals & Tax Tribunals (BPAIADAK)

Keywords

• Property tax appeals
• Assessment adjudication
• Government tax services
• Property valuation review
• Tax exemption processing

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Revenue model

1. Government Services: As a Cook County government agency, the Board of Review is funded through public tax revenues. Filing appeals is free for taxpayers. The Board processes appeals that affect property tax calculations for the $13 billion tax obligation for Cook County property owners.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Cook County Board of Review is a quasi-judicial government agency that adjudicates property tax assessment appeals for the 1.8 million parcels of real estate in Cook County, Illinois. Property owners can file appeals through the proprietary DAPS (Digital Appeals Processing System) online portal, in person, or by mail at no cost. The Board processes residential, commercial, and industrial appeals across 38 townships, handles property tax exemptions, conducts telephonic hearings, and issues binding decisions that set the final county valuation for the tax year.

Product overview

Cook County Board of Review operates a unified digital platform, the BOR Appeals Portal (DAPS - Digital Appeals Processing System), which provides end-to-end property tax assessment appeal services. The core platform integrates online filing for residential and commercial/industrial appeals, document upload capabilities, telephonic hearing scheduling, and decision tracking. The system supports 38 Cook County townships with varying filing dates and provides auxiliary services including property tax exemptions, surviving spouse abatement, and decision history search. Data visualization modules include Appeal Rate Dashboard, Tax Year 2024 Assessed Values Dashboards, and Districts with Townships View Dashboard. The platform operates under published Official Rules and maintains annual reporting going back to FY 2012.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DAPS (Digital Appeals Processing System) / BOR Appeals Portal Online portal enabling property owners and attorneys to file assessment appeals, upload evidence, track case status, and view decisions electronically across all 38 Cook County townships.
• Residential Assessment Appeals
• Commercial/Industrial Assessment Appeals
• Property Tax Exemptions Processing of property tax exemption applications including homeowner exemptions, senior exemptions, and assessment freezes for eligible property owners.
• Surviving Spouse Abatement Tax abatement program for surviving spouses of property owners who passed away, reducing the property tax burden for eligible applicants.
• Telephonic Hearings Hearings conducted by phone where property owners discuss their appeal with a Board of Review analyst. Pro se hearings are conducted telephonically.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 500,000 assessment appeals processed per session
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature2 records

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board (PTAB): The state-level quasi-judicial body that hears property tax assessment appeals after county Boards of Review. PTAB performs the same appellate review function for Illinois as the Cook County Board of Review does at the county level, making it the closest direct counterpart in the same jurisdiction.
• Lake County Board of Review: Illinois county-level Board of Review adjudicating property assessment appeals for Lake County. Operates under the same Illinois Property Tax Code (35 ILCS 200) and offers the same appeal services to property owners.
• Kane County Board of Review: Kane County, Illinois Board of Review performing property tax assessment appeal adjudication under identical Illinois statutes. Smaller-scale but directly comparable in function and governance structure.
• Will County Board of Review: Will County's three-member Board of Review hearing residential and commercial assessment appeals under the same Illinois statutory framework as Cook County. Direct functional and structural peer at county level.
• DuPage County Board of Review: An Illinois county-level Board of Review performing the identical quasi-judicial property assessment appeal function as the Cook County Board of Review, but serving DuPage County's smaller parcel base. Structurally and procedurally a direct match.

Regional players

• Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts - Property Tax Division: Oversees Texas's Appraisal Review Boards (ARBs), which perform property valuation protest functions analogous to a Board of Review but under Texas law rather than Illinois law. Functionally comparable in providing taxpayer appeal mechanisms for property valuations in a different state jurisdiction.

Others

• Cook County Assessor's Office: Companion Cook County agency that performs initial property assessments, whose determinations are then appealed to the Board of Review. Operates within the same property tax ecosystem but performs the upstream assessment function rather than the appellate review function.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=ziAp60j6lfM
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cookcountyboardofreview

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Cook County Board of Review