Midyear Budget Hearings: Cook County Land Bank, Cook County Clerk,Office of Secretary to the Board

Cook County Land Bank Authority 
July 21, 2026

Jessica Caffrey, Executive Director and Daniel Taylor, Manager Finance and Business Operations presented an overview of the Land Banks finances. Highlights from their report:

• Generates revenue by property sales, land banking agreements and municipal transactions with purpose of returning properties to the tax rolls.
• In 2025 revenue of $9.6M resulting in $309M added to community wealth since their inception. 
• Revenue goal of $7M due to some challenges for this year and have raised $4M so far.
• Expenditures on pace and expect to be on target by end of year. 
• 89% of properties sold this year have gone to home ownership. Received funds from equity fund to assist with funds for homeowners. 
• Acquired 256 parcels so far this year. May not reach their goal of 500 but expect to acquire 400 parcels as more parcels are being redeemed. 
• 21 of 25 positions filled. Intend to have remaining 4 positions filled by year end. 
• Receive grant funds from IHDA (Illinois Housing Department Authority) for demolition of properties that are not able to be renovated. 

Commissioner Comments and Questions/Answers:

• Gainer - Asked about sustainability of the Land Bank. Working on increasing inventory. Need to process 3000 pieces of property to keep afloat. Challenges due to Tyler problems in Treasurer’s Office. Right now $1M outstanding from Treasurer. 
• Moore - How many vacant properties have been returned to the tax rolls? 2505 properties have been returned with total amount of $38M in tax revenue. Working with Dolton, Calumet City, and Matteson to get larger properties back on the tax rolls. 65% of the Land Bank property is vacant land so working on scaling up developers. Preservation Services (maintenance) on approximately 2000 properties requires $6M/year. Get $3.5M from the County budget. 
• McKaskill - Partnership with municipalities to do maintenance? Work closely with municipalities who are glad to have Land Bank do maintenance. They do waive transfer stamps.
• Vasquez - Is there any enforcement post sale if contracts not honored.? 12-18 months to complete rehab of property and then a release of property. 60 days from acquisition to marketing and then about 6 months to sale. 4 Asset Managers work on this to ensure contracts are honored. 
• Gainer - Pointed out that most Land Banks are funded by a portion of the taxes that they have generated. The $3.5 from the County is a portion of that. 
• Aguilar - Are brokers involved and can you speed up the process? Brokers are involved with the larger commercial properties. Application process for purchase takes time so process has been streamlined as much as possible. 

Cook County Clerk  

Clerk Monica Gordon summarized the efforts of her office to modernize including:

• For elections - Deployment of 55 smart ballot drop boxes for mail in ballots to all early voting sites and Election Lens, an analytics program to assist with managing election
• Partnership with the Chicago Bears on civic engagement project to bring early voting sites to High Schools in suburban Cook County
• Vital Records - the revenue producing part of her office had an increase of 4% in revenue 
• Efforts to modernize include a new clerk cashier system that includes a mail tracking system. 
• Once the Tyler System is complete they will integrate into the Real Estate and Tax system. 
• Increased efforts in Community Outreach and Veterans Services.

Commissioner comments questions/answers:

• Gainer - Appreciated the Clerk’s efforts to develop a manual system to get tax certificates for Land Bank properties but is there an automated system in the offing. Hoping to complete the 3000 properties by the end of August. 
• Trevor - Are there plans to provide services to persons who cannot come downtown to their office? Working on developing kiosks that will be able to provide records and also planning to partner with local registrars. Also asked about plans to digitize older records. Possibly in the future.
• Stamps - Asked about safety and security for the November election. Office is working with the sheriff to address any issues that could arise. Comm. said she is working on an ordinance that will address election worker security.

Secretary to the Board 

Brandy Smith, Deputy Secretary and Victoria Sockwell, Archivist summarized their activities. Highlights of their presentation:

• Proposed budget for 2027 includes technological investments to enhance board operations that include a searchable data base, electronic voting, and language services but results in a  $250,000 shortfall. 
• FTEs has been 13 and will remain at 13.  
• The archives continue to expand resulting in space limitations. Working with Asset Management to procure the needed space so they can operate as they would like. 

Few questions from commissioners.

• Vasquez - asking where will the Archives go and how much space is needed? Would like about 10,000 square feet and in the County Building if possible. Also asked about a partnership with the Chicago History Museum and they are working on some type of collaboration. 

Observer - Cynthia Schilsky