Board of Review and Treasurer - Budget Hearings

Cook County Board Finance Committee Departmental Budget Hearings
November 2

​Board of Review 
Proposed Budget for 2021 $14.073M  
2020 Budget $13.473 MM
Difference -  increase of $0.6 MM
Proposed FTES for 2021 - 142 FTEs
2020 FTEs – 142 FTEs
Difference - 0

Highlights from the Board of Review Proposed Budget:

• The fact that the Board of Review (BOR) spent money several years ago on IT systems meant that March 13 they were all able to unplug their laptops and take them home to continue working seamlessly on tax appeals.  The overwhelming good news is the BOR employees are trained and using their IT programs correctly.  BOR re-assigned a few people to work on PTAB appeals, since the county was losing lots of money to state appeals wins.  Now BOR says it has fought many of these appeals and retained $110 million for school districts that are the first ones to pay money for successful property tax appeals.

Treasurer
Proposed Budget for 2021 - $13.588M
2020 Budget - $13.286M
Difference -  increase of $.302M
Proposed FTEs for 2021 - 86.5 FTEs
2020 FTEs - 86.5 FTEs
Difference - 0

Highlights from the Treasurer's Proposed Budget:

• Maria Pappas, as always, delivered a lively and combative budget presentation.  As with the BOR, the overwhelming good news is that due to the coronavirus, taxpayers have learned to avoid physical offices and begin to feel comfortable paying their taxes on line.  Website usage has increased dramatically as homeowners print out their tax bills and interact with the website successfully.  She has 58 active employees with half of them in IT.  She currently has 20 open FTEs that she hopes she won’t need but will include in the budget depending on the end of the virus and customer behavior.
• Unpaid taxes are mostly from commercial properties and hotels.  Hilton and Drake hotels are past due at this time, along with many other large properties like Sears.
• Pappas appears on WVON (1690 AM) each week in a segment called “Black homes Matter”.  She answers questions about exemptions and explains how to apply for refunds and how to learn about possible 3rd party tax sales.  She plans to buy 2 vans in 2021 to do visits to communities where people are too scared to venture out.  The van personnel will assist in refunds, exemptions, and getting people off the tax sale lists.

Observer - Amy Little