If you live in Chicago, you may want to keep your eye on your mailbox.

New property tax assessments are being mailed out over the next several months by the Cook County Assessor’s Office. The assessment is the basis for the amount you pay in property taxes. Several North Side residents have already received theirs and say assessments have skyrocketed.

A former candidate for Cook County Assessor on Monday held a press conference to point out what she thinks are major discrepancies in assessments.

Andrea Raila says property owners in the Lake View Township of Chicago are noticing assessment increases between 32 and 100 percent over previous amounts. She’s calling for a 15-percent cap on the tri-annual reassessments.

“We had seniors that told us their property taxes (are) above their mortgage payments,” Raila said. “We have people who are new homeowners who are totally unfamiliar with this system.”

But Tom Shaer, deputy assessor for communications with the Cook County Assessor’s Office, disputes that.

“The assessments in Lake View and Rogers Park Townships are within industry range for accuracy,” he said.

Shaer joins Chicago Tonight to discuss the increased property assessments.

Related stories:

Assessor’s Office Officials in Hot Seat Over ‘Regressive’ System

Property Tax System ‘More Regressive’ in Cook County, Report Finds

Cook County Collects $757M in Property Tax Prepayments