Lake County Gazette

If there were a Lake County property taxpayer’s Hall of Fame, retired Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher would be a lock for induction.

The eight-time pro bowler has paid $611,435 in taxes on his Mettawa mansion, and he doesn’t even live there anymore.

Urlacher, 39, who spends most of his time these days in Arizona, paid $2.312 million in 2004 for the 11,000 square foot, seven bedrooms, 5.3 baths with two pole barns and a two-story playhouse. That’s the equivalent of $3.084 million in 2018 dollars.

Brian Urlacher's home at 15044 W. Little Saint Mary's in Mettawa is on the market for $2.596 million. | Zillow

The home is currently listed for sale for $2.695 million, down from $3 million when Urlacher originally listed the home in May 2017.

His tax bill? $50,484 per year, up 64 percent from his $27,602 when he first bought it in 2003. 

By comparison, Urlacher’s 4,032-square-foot home in the Citrus Preserve subdivision in Chandler, Arizona cost $1.225 million in 2007. It has a property tax bill of $6,941.

Urlacher's Mettawa home was originally built in 1987 by pop star Richard Marx.

The median sale price in Mettawa is $635,000 so far in 2018; the median property tax bill is $13,661, or 2.15 percent, about twice the national average.

Urlacher's brother, Casey, is mayor of Mettawa, which has about 600 residents.

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Urlacher's Monsterous Property Tax Bill

The Bears star has paid more than $600,000 in property taxes since he bought a home in north suburban Mettawa, an increase of 64 percent. But he is trying to sell his home for 13 percent less than he paid for it.

Year	Tax Bill	% CHG
2017	$50,484	8.5%
2016	$46,515	9.2%
2015	$42,614	-6.1%
2014	$45,374	-5.7%
2013	$48,132	3.4%
2012	$46,567	2.8%
2011	$45,297	2.1%
2010	$44,369	3.4%
2009	$42,906	8.1%
2008	$39,683	10.7%
2007	$35,840	3.3%
2006	$34,698	6.0%
2005	$32,742	14.4%
2004	$28,611	3.7%
2003	$27,602
TOTAL	$611,434	64%