Cicero, IL Local Taxes & Fees: Business Tax Classification (2026)

Chapter 2, Article II, Division 4 of the Town Code sets out Cicero's process for local sign-off on Cook County's commercial and industrial property-tax incentive program. Sec. 2-966, added by Ord. No. 42-23 on June 13, 2023, defines a 'tax incentive classification' as any Cook County classification requiring Town approval before the County will consider it, listing Class 6b and its subclasses, Class 7a, Class 7b, Class 7c, and Class 8 and its subclasses. Sec. 2-967 lays out the application steps: a property owner, or any other person or entity, submits an application with a non-refundable fee set by the Town's fee schedule, and submitting an application does not obligate the Town to support the request.

The Town project manager sets the application's form and content, reviews every completed submission, and within 90 days of receiving it may reject the application, ask for more documentation, or recommend it to the Economic Development & Neighborhood Conservation Committee. That committee must hold a public hearing on any application referred to it, take testimony, and then recommend to the Board of Trustees whether to approve or reject the incentive classification. Only after this local review and a favorable Town recommendation does Cook County take up the classification application itself; the Town Code gives Cicero, not the applicant or the County, the first and controlling word on whether a property qualifies for a reduced assessment classification.