Crain’s Chicago Business, a publication that curiously lauds business while aggressively embracing a political policy that demonizes the success of those same businesses, made some headlines this week by publicizing the owners of the highest property tax bills in Chicago. As a surprise to no one, it seems that lots of people in Chicago pay property tax bills that are overwhelmingly substantial. One particular angle made some sport of the $37k increase that one property owner saw this past year. I couldn’t tell whether the primary theme of the article and the commentary it generated was to imply that we should feel somewhat sorry for them or if we should just eat them. You know, because they’re rich.
What happens in Cook County matters to me, but what happens in Walworth County indeed matters more. It is with that awareness that I bring to you The List. It’s the Geneva Lakefront I Pay Lots Of Property Tax list, and it encompasses Lake Geneva, Williams Bay, Fontana, and Linn Township. Of those four municipalities, lakefront residents in Linn Township will generally pay the least tax on their lakefront homes. This is due, in large part, to the fact that Linn pretty much has nothing except some residential areas, and a lot of rural areas, so the population is low when compared to the expanse of land that lies within these municipal boundaries. Without having ever looked at their budget, I’d assume that approximately 110% of their tax receipts are pledged to the school system. Just a guess.
The City of Lake Geneva will have the highest taxes per residential property, by a mile. This is why the city of Lake Geneva boasts some of the highest tax payers in our market. First up, the corridor along South Lakeshore Drive, in the neighborhood of Stone Manor. As an aside, the first floor unit at Stone Manor pays $74,816 in property tax. That lofty sum would bankrupt me, but it doesn’t even register on the list of highest lakefront tax bills, so in that there is some shame, or pride, depending on your slant. The highest tax bill in the city of Lake Geneva (residential single family) goes to a lakefront manse with six and a half acres and a mind bending tax bill of $146,376. That’s annually.
A close second is a home at 700 South Lakeshore, nearby, with $133,680 in tax. This home is also for sale, in the event that you wish to make that tax bill your own. To be fair, this is a large gated estate, with tennis court, swimming pool, and all sorts of estate-ish amenities. There are others in the city of Lake Geneva with $100k+ bills, but these are the two high payers. Everyone with children in the Lake Geneva School District should send these people special notes at Christmas time, or Thanksgiving, which may be the more appropriate holiday to recognize these patrons of taxation.
While the City of Lake Geneva generally reigns supreme on issues of high taxation, it is not the only municipality with marquee properties. Linn Township, while being the owner of the lowest millage rate, also boasts the largest estates on the lake. That combination will allow for some significant tax bills, or, in fact, the highest on the lake. The estates with these bills are the ones you know, and the ones you expect. The Pritzker’s Casa Del Sueno has an annual bill of $117,173. Pat Ryan’s House in the Woods pays at least $175,000 for all of the parcels that make up that expansive estate. The Smith Estate on the southern end of Geneva Bay has a not insignificant annual bill of $128,323, and Green Gables, another Snake Road manse, has an annual of $159,270 for that 15 acre lakefront estate. The Driehaus estate has a bill of at least $138,628.
These tax bills are serious, but none of these are the HTW, or High Tax Winner. That title goes to William Wrigley Jr., with a combined tax bill of at least $195,960 for his lakefront parcels. Mr. Wrigley is also in the process of building what will be one of the most beautiful and impressive homes on the entire lake, so the odds are this tax bill will look like an absolute dream compared to the one that he receives next year once the home is complete. I’ve heard rumors that the Linn Township School District has plans to gold plate their soccer goalposts and serve only Mars bars in their school vending machines, but this rumor has not been substantiated.
Williams Bay is many things, but also a tax lover, so it should be no surprise that two lakefront estates on Cedar Point Drive, to the East of the point, have tax bills of $122k and $104k, respectively (635 and 679 Cedar Point Drive). Fontana has some tax bias as well, though the high payer on the lakefront there (single parcel payer) is the owner of the home I sold a few years ago on South Lakeshore Drive. That $78,402 tax bill takes the cake in Fontana, though some owners with combined parcels have higher bills. These taxes do not take into account some of the future bills of homes that were either just completed, or will be completed in the near future. There’s a home being built on South Lakeshore in Fontana that will likely become the highest tax payer in Fontana, as the home is rumored to be the approximate size of the Merchandise Mart, except with a bigger garage.
The lakefront of Geneva Lake is home to some of the most valuable real estate in the entire state, which leaves us to consider these tax bills as no great surprise. There’s a general acceptance of tax bills on Geneva up to, and including the $50k range (entry level lakefront taxes start around $20k), viewed as a small price to pay for such a lifestyle boost. Taxes in that strata are generally applied to homes in the $2.5MM to $4.5MM range, and that is the category that makes up the bulk of our lakefront inventory. Of course, if a tax bill is above that mark then that means that the property is a pure upper bracket offering, and the buyer of that $5MM+ property likely doesn’t have the tax sensitivities of you and of me. My tax sensitivities? All of them.