Mid-Year Budget Meetings of the Finance Committee

Cook County Board Finance Committee Mid-Year Budget Hearings
July 30, 2025, afternoon 

Board Of Review (BOR) - Larry Rogers and George Cardenas
Session lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes
Highlights of their presentation:

• The Teleo system has been implemented for hiring and they expect to be fully staffed by the end of the third quarter.
• Negotiations for their first collective bargaining contract is ongoing and will be implemented soon which should result in stabilization of the workforce and cut down on overtime. 
• In 2024 they had the largest number of appeals ever.
• Their IT system is off of the Main Frame as of May 1.
• Of the 274,000 appeals they received 50% resulted in a reduced assessment and 50% were unchanged. 
• Only about 1/3 of properties file an appeal which means many homeowners don’t appeal. 
• They referenced the Tribune article that faulted the Assessor for not including all properties in the assessment process resulting in a loss of tax revenue for the County. 
• 1351 Certificates of Error have been issued which will result in refunds to the taxpayers as a result of errors that the Assessor acknowledges. Mr. Rogers blames the Assessor for the problems with the tax collection system. 
• For fiscal year 2026 the BOR will be requesting 20 new FTEs.
• The BOR and the Assessor disagree over the “loading” or “unloading” of the Cap Rate used to assess commercial properties. Improved data sharing and communication between the 2 offices was outlined by the President’s plan for dealing with this issue. According to Mr. Rogers the Assessor will now “load” the Cap Rate to align with what the BOR does. 
• PTAB according to Mr. Cardenas is a huge liability for tax payers. The BOR is required to defend the assessments when they are appealed to PTAB and the number of appeals has increased by 200% since 2022. Cases take 3-4 years to settle and they need more resources to be able to defend the assessments. 
• Says the BOR is not shifting the tax burden to homeowners and that misleading statement needs to be put to rest. The Assessor is an “over Assessor”.

Commissioner Comments and Questions:

• Comm. Lowry asked about the practical effect of “loading the Cap Rate” to which Mr. Rogers said that the dispute is largely philosophical and agreement would result in more predictability of taxes which is what developers are looking for. Mr. Rogers also stated that in a perfect world appeals would not be necessary but since they are necessary outreach is needed to ensure all taxpayers are aware of the process and there should be a no fee process. 
• Comm. Degnan wanted to know what the Cap Rate is loaded with and who determines this. According to Mr. Rogers there are industry standards that the Assessor does not use. They do have consultants that are working on a methodology to be used. She also asked about the use of AI and they do not have plans at present for its use. Her last question was about the 20 positions they want to add. They said that it would add 2 field staff, 9 valuation officers, legal assistance for labor now that they are unionized, and HR persons. 
• Comm. Anaya asked about the properties that have “split codes” - commercial and residential. Mr. Rogers said that the Assessor had no authority to do those properties differently than they had been in the past. She asked if there were any policy changes that needed to be made for their process or in dealing with PTAB. Nothing was suggested. 
• Comm. Trevor asked for a simple explanation of the Cap Rate that she could use to explain it to her constituents. Mr. Rogers stated that this is a commercial property issue and has limited application and what is important is ensuring all properties are on the tax rolls. She asked if data is incomplete what is the solution. Who is responsible for ensuring that new construction is added to the tax rolls - the municipalities - the township - what about unincorporated areas? She did not really get an answer to her questions and she gave up. Chief Deputy T. Burris did provide a definition for Cap Rate as Net Operating Income/Market Value.
• Comm. Stamps wanted to know where BOR Commissioner Steele was and her staff stated she was unable to attend.  Then Comm. Stamps asked if there was a flow chart of how the tax process works. Comm. Daley responded by saying that it is Assessor to BOR to Clerk who finalizes the rate and then to the Treasurer. Comm. Stamps then asked about the “windows” for appeals and stated that this information is very confusing. They agreed and stated that during July and August anyone can file an appeal and the other windows are defined by statute. She also asked if they now have their own IT system or are they using Tyler. Mr. Rogers said that all their data has been transferred from the Main Frame to the Tyler system and they are now working to ensure that their OnBase System integrates with Tyler. 
• Comm. McCaskill stated that she wanted the system to work right for everyone.
• Comm. Vasquez asked about language services and they said they do have staff that speak different languages and their information is available in different languages. 
• There were several suggestions that information about appeals be sent with the tax bills but Mr. Rogers stated that could be confusing as appeals are done on assessments not on the taxes once they are determined. 

Office of the Chief Judge - Honorable Timothy Evans and staff
Session lasted 1 hour 50 minutes
Highlights of Presentation:

• Judge Evans indicated that he intends to spend his budget by the end of the fiscal year.
• On the revenue side of his budget in addition to the $65M state subsidy for judge’s salaries that his office receives, he anticipates receiving an additional $8.1M from the Office of Pre-Trial Services that should cover 144 of the additional 155 staff that he anticipates he will need for his expanded Electronic Monitoring (EM) system.
• He provided updates on 2 ARPA programs that he states have been a success. One is a collaboration of Lurie’s Children’s Hospital and Cook County Health that is a youth diversion program to reduce violence. He hopes that it will continue with funds from the Equity Fund after that ARPA funds are depleted. The other is the Cook County Legal Aid for Housing and Debt Program (CCLAHD) that he thinks may get future funding from IHDA (Illinois Housing Development Authority).
• He touted the Restorative Justice Community Courts and said he is working with Comm. McCaskill to open a new one in her district and would like to work with other Commissioners to do the same in their districts.
• They are renovating space in Maywood to house the expansion of the EM program. Anticipates in may be ready by September. 
• He provided information on Domestic Violence and Domestic Relations Courts distinguishing between the two. Would like to set up a fund for those who have difficulty meeting the costs involved in these cases - particularly for Guardians Ad Litem (GALs).
• Representative from the Chapin Hall Center for Children provided an overview of the Research Report that is about to be released dealing with the proposed changes in Juvenile Justice. 
• In May the Chief Judge Office had 502 vacancies but since then 180 persons have been hired.

Commissioner Comments and Questions:

• Comm. Lowry asked if the $8.1M coming from the Office of Pre-Trial Services is a one time revenue source. Judge Evans says he anticipates it will continue. The commissioner also asked about the recidivism rate and said that 65% return to jail within 1 year of release from incarceration and 80% return within 2 years is not really acceptable and perhaps wrap around services after incarceration need to be reimagined. Perhaps stopping resourcing more jails and paying for services would be a better investment. 
• Comm Moore asked about when the Sheriff’s EM program would be phased out and the response was hopefully by October. He also wanted to know about the fees for GALs - who decides when they are needed and what is the rate of payment. From Judge Evans response it seems that the individual judges decide and the rates can vary. 
• Comm. Anaya commended the CCLAHD program and said it was important for preventing evictions and wanted to know if it would continue after ARPA funds run out. Judge Evans was not sure if it would as it depends on if funding can be procured. She also asked about reconvening the DV Working Group that she participated in previously. He indicated that might happen. She inquired about any changes to protocol following an ICE incident in Maywood and Judge Evans said he would talk with her in private about changes.
• Comm. Trevor asked for an estimate of the long term costs for EM once the transition is complete as this was thought that combining the programs would be a cost savings. She also asked about GALs and why they need to be paid by the parents. She said costs need to be reasonable.
• Comm. Stamps had a whole list of questions to which she wanted written responses. Included were the following: Why is there still no comprehensive plan for dealing with DV? What percentage of cases require a GAL and what kind of list determines who they will be? Divorce cases take way too long to resolve and what can be done about that? If a judge in a case is abusing his digression what is the course of action for dealing with such a complaint? What will staffing look like in the community settings for juvenile cases once the change from the JTDC is instituted? How will the employees at the JTDC be protected if and when changes are made? Why are educators not included in the Restorative Justice Courts as she sees this as an opportunity to work with the young people involved?
• Comm. McCaskill said that the facility she has identified for the Restorative Justice Court in her district is waiting to be prepared to start functioning. Judge Evans said that they will be working with her to get it going.
• Comm. Vasquez also wanted to be included in the meeting regarding the ICE incident in Maywood. She asked about the decrease in cases being referred to the Restorative Justice Courts since gun cases were no longer to be sent there. Judge Evans said the the State’s Attorney is now willing to send non-violent gun charge cases to these courts if the intent is to work towards obtaining FOID cards and not participation in the “circles”. Judge Evans said she needs to come see how the process works and she might be even more favorable to them if she did. 
• Comm. Daley wanted to be sure that the Judge was working with the Clerk to share data on the dashboard and he said that he was. 

Observer - Cynthia Schilsky