All right.

The legislation and intergovernmental relations committee of the Cook County Board will come back to order.

And we still, I believe, have a quorum.

Chairman, at your recess meeting, I needed to add some people.

If I could do that now, please, Commissioner Naya needs to be added, and she's in the room.

Chairman Daly is now in the room.

We have an excused absence for Commissioner Gaynor.

Commissioner Miller is present.

Thank you.

She has been added.

Commissioner Marita is present participating remotely.

Commissioner Marita, are you still connected?

I am.

Thank you, Lynn.

Thank you.

Commissioner Vasquez.

Thank you.

Is I'll add it.

Thus, those that did not respond are excused absences for Commissioner Gaynor, Commissioner Sean Morrison, and we are also adding Commissioner Stamps to the roll.

Hi, Commissioner Lowry.

And Commissioner Laurie has been added.

Chairman, you do have a quorum remote participation as needed.

Commissioner Lowry moves for remote participation.

Second by Commissioner Scott.

Roll call.

Commissioner Eggag your vote, sir.

Commissioner Naya.

Is out of the room.

Commissioner Daly.

Thank you.

Commissioner Degnan.

Aye.

Commissioner Gaynor is excused previous votes for aye.

Commissioner Naya is absent.

Commissioner Laurie.

Aye.

Commissioner McCaskill.

Commissioner Miller.

Is this for remote?

Yes.

So again, can you state for the record that this was not meet the criteria for remote participation?

You are exactly correct.

It does not meet the requirements for remote participation, as I have indicated before.

I am going to grant some grace to the Commissioner who requested it this time.

It will be the last for any committee that I chair.

Yeah, and it's not to individualize a commissioner.

Yeah, so this is to follow the correct rules, which we are not doing.

So we will be doing going forward.

So ma'am, your vote is present, correct?

Commissioner Miller is present.

Commissioner Moore.

Present.

Commissioner Moore is present.

Commissioner Marita.

Commissioner Marita is aye.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison is aye.

Commissioner Shawn Morrison is excused.

Commissioner Scott.

Aye.

Commissioner Scott is aye.

Commissioner Stamps?

Commissioner Stamps is aye.

Commissioner Trevor.

Aye.

Commissioner Trevor is aye.

Commissioner Vasquez.

Commissioner Vasquez is aye.

Mr.

Chairman.

Aye.

Mr.

Chairman is aye.

Mr.

Chairman.

Twelve ayes.

Two present and three absent.

Motion passes.

Public speakers, Lynn.

Chairman, we have a number of speakers.

Please be reminded of the public speaking rules.

Followed by Mary Gore.

If you're in the room, please come to the public speaking mic.

Priscilla Mims, followed by Mary Gore.

Good morning, um, Commissioners.

My name is Priscilla Mims.

I'm a member of the Board of Legal Women Voters of Cook County.

The League has sent to all commissioners our written comments regarding the resolution calling for a hearing regarding a national commitment to defend, protect, and expand the right to vote, which is on today's agenda.

I urge each commissioner to read our full written comments.

This is just a summary.

One challenge is the challenge change to the post office procedures that can result in delay of up to several business days for a postmark to be affixed to a piece of mail.

As a result of this, voters were urged to mail their vote-by-mail ballots for the March primary, a week ahead of the election to ensure the mail would be postmarked on or before election day.

In lieu of utilizing the mail, both election authorities within Cook County have offered voters the opportunity to return their ballots to drop boxes during early voting.

In addition, on election day, there are 52 such locations for Chicago voters.

Suburban Cook voters had six locations.

The United States Supreme Court is expected to rule shortly on a case involving voting by mail.

The news reports of the oral arguments have indicated that it appears that a majority of the court will hold that a vote by mail ballot must be in the hands of the election authority by election day in order to be counted.

Such a decision would be a serious blow to the feasibility of voting by mail.

The league has therefore been recommending that our two election authorities within Cook County provide for delivery of vote by mail ballots in their completed and sealed return envelopes to any of the hundreds of polling places on election day within the applicable jurisdiction.

Most, if not all voters, will be within walking distance of a polling place.

The league has described how this could be done in our written comments.

We know it require new administrative procedures by the election authorities.

We don't take this lightly.

Okay.

But to do nothing would likely have serious consequences for voter participation.

In the March primary, one in four Chicago and one in five voters in Suburban Cook utilized a vote by mail ballot.

The both election authorities have long been known to encourage voting by embracing new procedures.

The league is urging that both of them do so in this case, and we hope the commissioners will join us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Mayor Gore.

Sorry.

Hi, my name is Mary Gore.

I am the superintendent of Mount Prospect School District 57.

Thanks for having us today.

I represent the Cook County School Districts and Public Libraries.

And I just want to thank Commissioner Morrison, Commissioner Trevor, Commissioner Britton, as well as members from the President's team, as well as Mr.

Cage, who have availed themselves to support our coalition's work.

As we know, today there will be a hearing on the significant crisis surrounding property tax distributions, collections, et cetera.

And I understand and our team understands that this is a very complicated and ongoing issue involving many different separately elected officials.

But we are here today to represent the taxpayers of our district who you know pay property taxes with expectations of services from their libraries, from their schools, from their municipalities, and we are proud to be providing those services at the highest caliber.

We are also accountable to the services that we provide, and we work very closely with our citizens to make sure that we are delivering upon their expectations and exceeding them.

This is increasingly difficult to do when we do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars that are paid by our property taxes of our community, and no explanation for when these dollars will be distributed.

At this point, it is fair to say that the school district that I represent has the majority of this money distributed.

However, what lacks at this time is transparency.

The online portal that needs to be up and running to be able to verify what has been dispersed and what remains is still not available, and there's no due date that we have been told that assures us it's soon.

I hope today's hearing provides information that the members uh here that are elected officials can bring back to their constituents that you are obligated to advocate and serve.

And we also hope that there are answers around the timelines that continue to be very opaque to us.

Thank you for the opportunity, and I look forward to other members of our coalition who will be speaking shortly.

Thank you, Superintendent.

Thank you.

Uh Jessica Jackson, followed by Taiwan Sims.

Can you check if Mr.

Sims is in the room or not or standing outside?

He will be after Jessica.

Maybe the sheriff can find out if uh Mr.

Sims is outside.

Please begin.

Time has started.

Please begin.

Um I'm glad to see that Maria Pappas was here.

I guess she walked out.

Is this mic on?

Okay.

Maria Papis Maria Pappas walked out.

She was right there.

And she probably recognized my name.

And so she ran out of here.

Because the reality is Maria Pappas, along with J.B.

Because the reality is Maria Pappas, along with JB Prisner, with your full knowledge, participated in Cook County tax sales that have been granted to be unconstitutional and illegal in Cook County.

And the United States Supreme Court ruled that in 2023.

Cook County officials, along with state officials, JB Prister as the governor, Tony Preckwickle as the president of Cook County, and Maria Pappas, and every single person that's affiliated with Cook County taxes.

Knowingly broke the law and continued to participate in county tax sale auctions for three more years until these black women filed this new federal charge.

You, Scott Britton, sitting there and giving off false information about judges not being involved, that you have no jurisdiction of that, have full knowledge of that.

Just like the inspector general lady that's sitting right there with her face hand on her face, she has full knowledge of all the fraud that's going on in this body.

And you all sit here and continue to break the law.

And what's so crazy about it is that you have people like Maria Pappas, who did investigative reports for years, talking about how property taxes is a way that black people was losing that property while at the same time having full knowledge that you all were participating in Cook County property tax sales that have been deemed unconstitutional.

And then she thinks she's gonna run for mayor.

She thinks she's gonna run for mayor?

Yeah, get that phone up.

Get my picture good.

Get my picture good.

So that you know the proper people to take you to.

My name is Jessica Jackson.

Everybody up in here, including that courthouse, knows who I am.

Get my picture so that y'all can go and solve my and resolve my case.

Then I won't have to keep coming in here.

You don't intimidate me, no kind of way.

You don't bully me, no kind of way.

My heart don't pump Kool-Aid at all.

Tywan Sims is the next speaker, then followed by George Plagemore.

Mr.

Sims, I don't.

I didn't know if he was outside or not, Sheriff.

Did you ask for me?

Taiwan Sims.

Lamar Williams.

Right there.

He is next.

If he's not ready, George could go.

Thank you, Sheriff.

Please begin, sir.

Oh, um, Commissioner Britton, how's it going, sir?

Not too bad.

Probably not, yeah.

I could imagine.

However, sir, um, my concern is still this.

What takes place, what happens for any other constituency or civilian when they enter into public spaces?

How they put what is the safeguard?

What is the litigation safeguard if a complaint like mine is made?

Whereas I find myself in one public space, which is 555 West Harrison, and then I find myself being sexually assaulted in the Cook County Hospital.

But not even that.

It's the it's the instance to where I lose time.

I come into the hospital in so much pain.

I'm giving uh MRI.

Um, asked, Do I need a catheter consider concerning the other issue that I'm dealing with?

But by the grace of God, I made it to the hospital.

The circumstances in which I made it to the hospital under, I cannot understand.

I went to 555 West Harrison to hear a motion to vacate for a case 230P72315, which uh ended up which my kid's mom tomorrow Yemi was given a plenary order of protection of default.

I went there to vacate or challenge that.

I remember the hearing which took place on in courtroom 201.

I remember the exchange with the judge and also um Sheriff Cortez.

I remember the last thing I remember was Sheriff Cortez handing me documentation.

After that, I woke up at Stroja Hospital, my left arm shackled and my right leg shackled.

Um I was subject to I was given medication that I adamantly refused, and also I was given a genital and anal and um exam for whatever reason.

It's not in the medical documentation.

I went through that, and for the reason that she said this is why I researched it.

She said it's for a lactic acid.

Lactic acid is in the muscles.

I know that my penis is a muscle, but still, it does not secrete from your penis or out of your anal.

So I was suspicious of this.

So I asked, so that's why I followed up.

I looked through all the um medical documentation.

There's no there's no showing of this exam.

So this was a sexual assault.

Also, the fact that I feel like I was raped after adamantly refusing a medication, and then having this exam.

What happens to individuals or what litigation is afforded to individuals like myself when instances like this take place in public or county buildings.

One being the 555 West Harris and the next being Stroger Hospital, sir.

And so I'm asking that this body or this investigate this matter extensively because no citizen should be subject to any type of treatment or any other treatment that I was subject to on May 19th.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Mr.

Blake Moore.

Thank you.

After Mr.

Blakemore will be Diana McCluskey, then Amy Franco.

Legislation.

Legislation.

We don't need any more laws.

Legislation.

And Sankofa.

And the 19th of June.

Okay.

We don't need any more legislation.

What black people need is business.

The tender their business.

Back when we had Black Wall Street, they didn't have all these black faces.

And all this legislation.

They didn't have it.

And black people had thriving communities.

Banks.

Business.

Hotels.

It was so great that the people in Tulsa, Oklahoma, saw them as a threat.

Burn both buildings and shot our people.

Tell them history now.

And our people were so great in fighting back that they had to get airplanes to bomb Tulsa, Black Wall Street.

And throughout these black communities, they had a wall street.

I came from a Black Wall Street in Folk Worth, Texas.

We had doctors.

We had lawyers.

We had professionals.

And our schools wasn't.

We had black teachers that wanted to teach.

We had business.

Cleaners.

We had business.

You go to Fort Worth today.

You go to Fort Worth today.

When I came to Chicago, they had Seaway Bank.

They don't even have a thing now.

They had car dealership.

They had service station.

Look at so these blacks had it going on without legislation.

What did they have?

They had each other.

So changing business.

Yes.

We are truly God's chosen people.

We must use what we have to get what we want.

And if we don't use what we have to get what we want, we don't need what we have.

We don't need any legislation.

We did all of this.

One minute.

What did we have?

We had unity.

We had love.

We had community.

And we tend to our business.

And they envy our greatness.

They envy our greatness.

And we are still great.

We are still great.

We must use what we have to get what we want.

We don't need all of y'all down here.

30 seconds.

Because you're selling out.

You're not go to the ghetto.

Go to each one of your community.

No economic development.

No economic development.

So if black people have gotten too low.

Well, we should be like that bird, trancoal, looking back and moving forward.

We got to overcome.

Time is expired for the speaker.

Diana McCluskey, you're next.

We got no car.

We got the Diana is next, followed by Diana.

Diana is Amy Franco.

Then Quoshana Harris.

Shh.

Diana.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Uh good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Is it afternoon?

Yeah, it's one minute past.

Right.

It's 1201.

My name is Diana McCluskey, and I feel honored to be here.

I am the chief school business official for Palatine School District 15.

I've been here before.

Um, Palace Palatine is the second largest elementary school district in the state of Illinois.

We educate over 11,000 students.

We have over 2,000 employees, and 40% of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch.

This is my third time speaking to you.

I am running out of words to uh say, please fix the property tax software situation.

I believe you have the answers.

I believe you are all qualified to get this done.

You have the tools to fix the problem.

Please stop making up excuses.

Please stop blaming each other.

We are all adults here.

This is negatively affecting the education of all students in Cook County.

Not just in Palatine.

My district has lost approximately $4 million to due to this unfortunate situation.

Where are we going to make up that from?

We aren't a corporation.

Also, I'm expecting 10 million more in property tax receipts this fiscal year.

We received nothing in the entire month of May.

Please fix this.

The property owners pay their taxes in good faith, believing that Cook County will turn around and remit back to the school district.

We need you to respond in good faith also.

You hold a public office.

Did you not take a vow to carry out the duties of your office with fidelity?

If any of us speaking here from the school districts did anything close to what is happening here, we would lose our jobs.

You have a protective moat around you.

Please stop abusing that.

Do the right thing and fix this problem.

We need accountability that all dollars collected from each library, municipality, school district, et cetera, have been recorded and remitted accurately.

In the long run, you will save your reputations by doing the right thing.

So please just do it.

Come together.

Leave any differences at the door and get this problem fixed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Amy Franco is next, followed by Quishonda Harris.

Hello, thank you to the chair.

Thank you to the board.

Thank you to commissioners.

My name is Amy Franco, and I'm the executive director of the Hillside Public Library.

I'm here speaking on behalf of a coalition of nearly a hundred public libraries in Cook County who have received some of their tax revenue, in some cases more than what they were expecting, and we have a lot of questions that we'd like you to answer today.

This is from Anna Wassener, who is the director of the Blue Island Public Library.

I'm hoping to shed light on the difficulties faced by libraries and other municipal agencies as tax reporting structures previously relied upon have broken down.

Statement of distribution reports that accurately reflect tax years and fund sources have not been provided since October of 2025.

Without accurate reports, it is impossible for agencies to know whether funds are to be attributed to tax year 2024 or tax year 2025 or even previous years.

And understand, and it's also impossible for them to understand whether additional distributions may occur.

Based on the scant information thus far provided, the Blue Island Public Library has current currently received 86% of its 2024 collection, which is far below the normal collection rate of around 90%.

The library's annual revenue estimate is based on historical collection rates from previous years, and the lack of answers regarding the whereabouts of the remainder, if it exists, has been frustrating.

Several Cook County libraries in the coalition have reported receiving quite a bit more than they expected for tax year 2024.

How did this happen?

Why and how have reporting functions come to this point?

Why are we still here talking about a tax year that happened two years ago?

Have taxes been billed and paid and then mistakenly distributed to other taxing agencies.

We even and we haven't even had that can't uh question answered for us.

Without accurate reporting, no one has been able to provide a clear answer.

This is disturbing, not just as a tax agency relying on these taxpayer funds for operations, but also as a Cook County taxpayer, as many of our library directors are.

Like many small tax agencies on the South and Southwest suburbs, the Blue Island Public Library operates on a very tight budget.

The news that the second installment distributions for 2025 will face delays again this year is particularly disheartening.

As Blue Island Public Library had planned on completing a long delayed replacement of HVAC system components in 2027.

As there are no guarantees that the funds taxpayers allocated to the library will be distributed in a timely fashion, the library must assume that those funds planned for maintenance must instead be kept to maintain operations.

It is my hope that records of bills, payments, and distributions have been maintained and that it will be possible to ensure that all discrepancies can be adjusted in the future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Please begin.

Hi, my name is Quoshana Harris, and I am the founder and executive director of Chicago Shower Association, a new initiative to expand sanitation services.

We will initially try um help people transitioning off the streets that have been disconnected from society, re-entering back into the rim of society by helping them with housing and jobs and things in that nature.

But we are facing a critical crisis here in Chicago.

We can't house individuals if we do have to unhouse individuals due to the deep eviction process that has to take place in Chicago.

By us having these high property taxes, that's causing the barrier over a lot of things that's operating in our city.

By me creating this sanitation system, it becomes a central intake point where we can't ultimately rebirth our whole city.

By pouring individuals out of properties and finding new transitional housing and development for them, placing them where they belong instead of the one-size-fits-all approach.

We are able to target individuals off their unique needs and place them in the services and things that they actually need, qualified for mental health stability, domestic disabled, whatever the issue may be that these individuals are facing.

But we cannot do that with if we do have these high property taxes.

It's ultimately a win-win.

By us creating this rinse, recycle and repeat in Chicago, we would set the bar for other states like we always do.

You know, Chicago, we set the trends here.

So once we start the trend of having these sanitation systems taking place ultimately all around Chicago land, we are able to house individuals, rehouse individuals, utilize policies and insurance policy taxes for homeowners that has been experienced squatters and things in that nature.

I don't want to experience a housing crisis that we um like a minute.

I don't want to experience the housing crisis like California, Virginia, or Nashville.

Chicago is a big city, and I think that we do deserve a fair opportunity in housing crisis.

By lowering the taxes, we are able to put more housing out and rehouse individuals through the sanitation service.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Please begin.

Go ahead.

Hello, everyone, and good afternoon.

My name is Daniela Martinez, and I'm the executive director for the Mayo Public Library District.

I am here today to ask questions that will hopefully have some more information for bodies of government like ours.

As always, I love the opportunity to talk about our library, specifically my library in Maywood.

Our library services, the Maywood community that consists of 23,512 residents.

Like many libraries, we have adapted over the years to make sure that our programming services and resources are enjoyed, sought, and relevant to our patrons.

Libraries now go beyond the standard checking on material.

We are actually a hub for culture, creativity, access, and safety.

To make sure that we're continuing to serve our community, we try to adapt to and bring all of these projects up.

Some projects, however, were placed on a back burner.

Not because they weren't important, but because they were expensive.

Our library is pretty unique because it was originally built in 1905.

It was one of the libraries that Andrew Carnegie built during that time.

And a new annex was added in 1997.

Buildings themselves, as you know, can be very expensive, even more when they are historical.

When our library was finally able to plan out a strategic capital needs project, it was recently it allowed what allowed us to make this happen and step forward this with this plan was stability of financial planning, thus tax distributions being on time.

Now we have another announcement of delayed tax distributions.

Our capital plan improvements could be in jeopardy, such as tuck pointing, such as sidewalk lifting, such as any other thing, HVAC problem that a building can have, especially one that has been up for so long like ours.

And in consequence, the building might suffer even more.

My question is for the sake of time.

Will organizations receive better communications for delays to account for the different reporting schedules that we each have.

Example, our library.

We have a different set schedule that we need to, I have to give answers to.

When will auditing and accounting guidance be provided to the affected libraries?

And what safeguards are in place to prevent this from happening again.

Many of my colleagues are here to ask these same questions.

Um, but I thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next public speakers, Jennifer Hovanik, Zariah Plowden, and Adam Laskes.

If you are in the room, please approach the podium.

Jennifer Havani, Zariah Plowden, and Adam Laskes.

Please state your name and proceed.

All right.

Hello, my name is Jennifer Hovanick, and thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

I am the executive director of the LaGrange Public Library, which serves more than 16,000 residents who value their library deeply.

The 157,000 individual visits to our single location across our last fiscal year reflect that.

When funding delivery is delayed, the immediate result is administrative burden.

Since April 2025, I have spent significant time revising cash flow projections.

We work reworking annual budgets and preparing new contingency plans.

What should be a guaranteed and predictable income stream has instead become a source of instability.

Advocacy in my previous 15 years of librarianship looked very different.

It used to be focused on fighting for intellectual freedom, connecting with agencies with shared mission and vision.

Year 16, however, has been overtaken with the additional pressure of financial distribution challenges.

The guaranteed delivery of funds that my residents have paid should not be a battle, but here we are.

This is beyond an inconvenience.

It is a serious diversion of limited professional time and taxpayer-funded resources.

There is a permanent financial loss.

When funds arrive late, we lose the opportunity to invest them and earn interest throughout the years.

Those lost earnings directly reduce resources for books, technology, facilities, and staff.

For libraries who already operate on lean budgets to begin with, this is meaningful and compounding impact.

More importantly, these changes directly affect people.

Children lose access to story time.

Job seekers can't prepare for interviews because of deferred maintenance to study rooms.

Meanwhile, it is librarians who are left explaining to the taxpayers who have paid their bills why services are diminished.

This is not a library management issue.

It is a systemic failure affecting service delivery at the ground level.

We recognize the complexity of tax distribution in Cook County, but I ask plainly how long will the system remain unreliable?

Predictable, timely distributions are essential for responsible governance and stewardship of public funds.

I urge the board to treat this as a priority.

Please support the reliability of tax distributions and join us in the goal to eliminate administrative waste, support transparent audits, protect investments, and ensure more dollars go directly to serving the people of Cook County.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sarah Zariah Plowden and Adam Laskis are next.

Zaria.

Thank you.

You can begin.

Good afternoon, President Preck Wrinkle and Cook County Board of Commissioners.

Good afternoon.

I'm here today in support of resolution 261409, sponsored by Cook County Commissioner Dr.

Keisha E.

McCaskill.

I had the privilege of speaking with family members about their experiences and perspectives on voting rights.

Although each of them had a different story, they all agreed about one thing that voting matters.

My grandmother shared that voting rights are important because they allow citizens to have a voice in the government decisions.

She believes that people should learn about their voting rights and use them whenever possible because many individuals fought hard to ensure equal access to the ballot box.

My grandfather told me that he votes in every election.

He believes that everyone deserves the opportunity to be heard.

He sees that voting as one of the most important rights that citizens have because it gives people the power to influence decisions that affect their communities and their future.

I was especially inspired by my stepgrandmother, who did not begin voting until she was around 40 years old.

She explained that voting is about more than just casting a ballot.

It requires learning about the issues and making sure that everything is informed.

She believes that informed voting creates a positive change for our future generations.

After speaking with my family, I learned that voting is both a responsibility and a right.

Their experiences reminded me that democracy works best when people are informed, engaged, and willing to participate.

Also, the opportunity to speak today, I appreciate.

Because of as a 19-year-old, I believe that it's important to that young people be a part of conversations about voting rights.

Because a decision made today will impact our future.

Opportunities like this encourage young people to become more active and informed, members of their communities.

Resolution 26 1409 is important because it supports protecting and expanding assets to voting.

Expanding voting assets helps ensure that more eligible citizens can participate in our democracy and have their voices heard.

When barriers to voting are reduced, our communities become stronger and more representative of the people they serve.

The right to vote is one of the most fundamental rights we have, and it allows us to shape our future, influence important decisions, and make our voices count.

And this is why I proudly support resolution number 26, 1409.

Thank you, President Preckwinkle and the Board of Commissioners for listening.

And also thank you, Dr.

Dr.

McCaskill for continued leadership and commitment to protect to protect then our democracy.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Adam Laskis, are you here?

There you go.

After Adam is Tatiana Blasso, then Ben Collier.

Thank you.

Please begin.

Thank you very much, uh Chair Britton and the rest of you commissioners.

It's a pleasure to be here before the committee.

That was quite a tremendous speech about voting, a very hard act to follow.

My name is Adam Lasker.

I'm the general counsel for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

I'm also here just for uh information purposes on the resolution by Commissioner Dr.

McCaskill.

Um it is an unusual time in our country's history where we're seeing unusual attacks against voting rights.

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners appreciates anything that uh the Cook County Board wants to do to help protect all of our voters.

We represent uh more than 1.5 million registered voters in the city of Chicago within the county of Cook.

Um, you know, the Board of Election Commissioners is an independent governmental agency and extension of the circuit court of Cook County, but we are certainly here today in the spirit of intergovernmental cooperation.

Uh it's a pleasure to be back in this room, and we would just like to be um offer ourselves to be available in any conversation we do have about how we can better serve and protect our voters on an ongoing basis.

Um we are also uh I'm also here today to respond in part to uh the proposals made by the League of Women Voters, as you heard from Miss Priscilla Mims earlier with the notion of accepting vote by mail ballots at our precincts on election day.

Um we are, of course, concerned and we're preparing for what would happen with the Supreme Court decision if we could no longer count ballots that we receive after election day, mail and ballots after election day.

Um, first of all, I do want to remind folks it's our interpretation right now that that would involve federal offices only.

We will remain committed under Illinois state law to count all vote-by-mail ballots that were timely deposited that we receive within 14 days after the election.

That's how it currently works in Illinois.

We would continue counting those ballots for state, federal, local offices, um, even if the Supreme Court says we have to stop counting the votes that are contained on those same ballots, uh votes for the federal offices.

If there's going to be a change to the uh allowing the votes, the ballots to come into precincts, there are tremendous amounts of expenses and staffing issues and policies and procedures that need to be taken into account.

We need to remember that precinct ballots voted in person are already processed.

They go to our warehouse.

Vote by mail ballots that are not processed have to come down to our central countdown town.

There's logistics, there is transportation, there's chain of custody.

We do not want this to result in uh a tarnishing of our reputation for the election integrity that we have in suburban Cook County and in the City of Chicago.

We have a tremendous system.

Um, but we need to be included uh with any of those conversations because while some ideas sound very good on the surface, there are tremendous administrative burdens and expenses involved with that.

We operate under the Illinois election code, but we also do try to comply, uh keep things consistent with the county clerk's office.

Um, for example, your language ordinance, we we voluntarily comply with that.

So we just want to be a part of the conversation and offer ourselves for information because there's a lot of nuts and bolts that need to be considered with proposals like that.

Um I thank you again for for the opportunity to be here today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Tatiana Bledsoe.

Please uh say hi to Commissioner Cresse for me.

We went to law school together.

After Tatiana is Ben Collier, then Terry Labell.

Please speak in.

Good afternoon, President Preckwinkle and Cook County Board Commissioners.

Good afternoon.

My name is Tatiana Bleso, and I'm here today in support of resolution number 261409 that's sponsored by Cook County Commissioner, Dr.

Keisha E.

McCaskill.

I'm honored, I'm honored to be here today representing and serving as a voice for my generation.

I believe that voting is one of the most important ways for our voices to be heard.

Voting allows us to participate in decisions that shape our schools, communities, and future.

Although many young people are not at the age to vote yet, I believe it is important to educate them on the value of voting so they are prepared to make informed decisions in the future.

Decisions that directly affect jobs, health care, housing in our communities.

Many people before us have fought relentlessly for the right to vote.

They face obstacles, discrimination, and injustice.

Because they believe that every president deserves a voice in our democracy, because of their courage and sacrifices, we have the opportunity to say that previous generations did not.

Their struggles remind us that voting is not something we should take for granted.

To better understand different perspectives on voting.

I spoke directly to the adults and members of other generations, which many have shared that voting is a fundamental right that should always be protected.

They understand that participating and voting is both a right and a responsibility.

Others have even expressed the belief that individuals who have who are incarcerated for low level of or certain nonviolent offenses should also have the opportunity to vote.

They feel that voting is an important part of having a voice in society.

Civic participation can encourage responsibility and connection in the community.

While opinions shifting on some aspects of voting, everyone agree on one important idea.

Voting matters, and every voice deserves to be heard without delay and without denial.

As a member of the next generation, we have the responsibility to learn about our rights, stay informed and about about the issues affecting our communities.

And value the power of civic engagement.

No matter where we come from or what perspective we hold, our values have value.

Our voices have value.

Voting gives people the chance to stand up for what they believe in and help shape a better future for everyone.

So I thank you, Commissioner Dr.

McCaskill and Cook County Commissioners for encouraging not just people my age, but for everyone to get informed, get involved, and make their voices count as the at the ballot box.

Let's continue fighting for our rights.

And I hope that you will show show your support in resolution 261409.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Ben.

Followed by Terry Labelle.

Hello.

Uh my name is Ben Collins, and I am the superintendent of Park Ridge Nile School District 64.

I am here again to speak on behalf of my superintendent and library colleagues about the ongoing issues with property tax distributions.

We sincerely appreciate the engagement and discussion from the President's office and other commissioners who continue to work on this critical issue.

It's important to publicly speak again about the protection of our precious tax dollars after schools alone last winter lost over 130 million dollars, which doesn't even come close to adding in the library uh losses as well.

We're still working on this issue as we continue internal conversations with county officials, but the ability to trust distribution numbers is still lacking, and we hope that the county commissioners can keep the transparency, communication, and pressure up on the treasurer's office and Tyler.

We are missing accurate reporting, financial tracking, and transparent distributions across the board.

There has been eight months of finger pointing, and that has to end.

And we were extremely disappointed by Maria Pappas's lack of willingness to meet with us in the winter, and then she magically found the time to create a tax report and lay public blame and shame on school boards when the systemic failure of her office ruined our finances and caused public bodies in some cases to default.

It was destructive to our shared purpose.

Please help us today and all of our public bodies to do our important work by continuing to push for better performance on the Tyler contract and working for increased communication.

We do appreciate the changes to the bridge loan based on our prior feedback.

We are still here to correct a major problem, and it will take hard work on the future today and moving forward.

Our residents depend on a positive resolution.

Thank you for your time and public service.

We look forward to the hearing.

Thank you.

Terry Labelle is next.

Followed by Tim Prindergast.

Good afternoon.

And thank you for this opportunity.

Um my name is Terry Labello.

I am the Worth Township School Treasurer.

My office supports the 14 public school districts in Worth Township.

In January, I spoke at the full county board meeting and provided data to show the financial investment losses my district incurred as a result of the delay in the fall tax bills being sent out.

I fully understand that this is the public comment section of the meeting and not a QA section, but I do have questions and I am requesting that the county does indeed respond to them in a timely fashion.

Number one, have all the fall 2025 and spring 2026 tax bills been sent out to the taxpayers?

Number two, has the treasurer's office distributed all the fall 2025 receipts?

My analysis of my district shows collections of the 2024 levy percentage range from 90 percent on the low end to just under 100 percent on the high end.

The average for my districts is about 95 percent.

Of course, this does not include any refunds these districts may have to pay for appeals.

If the funds have not been sent, when will they be sent?

Number three, has the Treasurer's Office distributed all the spring 2026 receipts?

My analysis of my district shows that the collection of 55 percent of the 2024 levy extension percentage ranges from 82 percent on the low end to 92 percent on the 90 on the high end.

The average for the districts is about 86 percent.

If these funds have not been sent, when will they be sent?

Number four, is the treasurer's office holding back funds for refunds?

Number five, is the treasurer's office holding back funds for any other reasons?

Number six, when will the final agency rate reports be made available?

The lack of the final agency rate report does not affect the total dollars the school districts have received, but it does affect their allocations among their funds within each dist in each district.

I won't go into a long explanation as to why, but suffice to say it is important for many reasons.

Number seven, yesterday it was announced that the tax bills will go out two months later than the July 1st date they are supposed to go out.

Is this a definite definitive timeline or is it possible that the bills will go out later than September first?

Not having a timeline on this does cost districts investment earnings as it is necessary to stay liquid instead of being able to invest in longer-term, higher yielding instruments.

Number eight, what are this year's excuse me, why are this year's second installment tax bills going out late again?

The bills went out late last year on December 1st.

Are the problems that caused last year's costly delay still an issue a year later?

Number nine, what happens next year?

Will it be groundhog day 2027?

Will the county again delay the spring collections even though the calculation for those tax bills is simply 55 percent of the previous year's extension of the taxing bodies?

Will the fall tax bills be late as well?

Number 10.

Through the course of this current delay, we have received conflicting information from the county board and the county treasurer.

Can we get one dedicated source of information on the tax bills?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Tim Printerest.

Good afternoon.

My name is Tim PrinterGast.

I'm the executive director of Hodgkin's Public Library District.

I'm here to speak to the public body regarding the clear communications and accurate distributions.

Um regarding uh not only just the tax funds but as well as the taxing agency extranet that so many of us rely on for accurate reporting.

Uh I'm um speaking specifically regarding our um issue uh because we are in the middle of building a new building, we're in the middle of audits and without clear audits and clear information from uh the the um treasurer's office, we're running into issues uh potentially uh impacting our taxpayers as it relates to the bonds that are out and how those are uh calculated and and how that is also taxed out to them.

I'm currently having difficult communications uh with the elected officials of the Hodgkin Public Library District Board with our accounting firm with our auditor, uh, and a lot of it is tied back to their reliance on the taxing agency and the extra net uh over the emails that we have received uh in the inconsistent emails that we've received from the treasurer's office.

It's causing a lot of confusion, it's causing a lot of hard conversations, and it's making uh difficult job harder because I don't have the accurate information to send out to public information or to public elected officials and to the public that has um you know paid their tax dollars for us to run a public library district.

Any updates regarding the text and agency extra net or uh accurate timelines on distributions will be welcome.

Thank you for your time.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Chairman.

I believe this is our last speaker, Zoe Lee.

I don't know if she's in the room.

Can you ask the hallway, Sheriff?

Check the hallway.

Zoe Lee is our last speaker, and Chairman, that will conclude our list of speakers if she arrives.

Thank you so much.

No, thank you, Sheriff.

All right, we will close public comment.

Chair now attend a motion to approve item 261695, the minutes of the meeting held May 12, 2026.

That motion is made by Commissioner Miller, seconded by Commissioner McCaskill.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed nay append the chair, the ayes have it.

We are we still have remote.

Okay, and we did the voice vote.

And we did we did do the uh remote yes, we did roll call.

Very good.

The chair will now entertain a motion to approve item 2613.

I moved the minutes, which were 1695, which was uh in the affirmative.

And now I move uh I would bring a motion, I would entertain a motion to approve item 261379.

The appointment of Brian Phelan to the independent review forecasting commission.

That might motion is made by Chairman Daly, seconded by Commissioner Trevor.

Uh, I want to thank Mr.

Phelan, I believe he's still here, for come on over to the mic, it's gonna take you a second.

Um I know we've had a long meeting so far, and we still got a lot of stuff to do.

So if you could just briefly uh tell us why you believe you'd like to be appointed to this position, and um we will then have questions from the body.

Mr.

Phelan.

Uh thank you very much.

Uh yes, my name is Brian Phalan.

I'm a associate professor and department chair in the Department of Economics at DePaul University.

I've been uh faculty member in the economics department at DePaul uh since 2012 after finishing my PhD in economics at Johns Hopkins University.

Um I'm very excited to to serve on on this commission.

Uh my research and teaching largely focuses on labor economics and econometrics, which is just kind of a fancy way of saying data analysis.

Um I do a lot of work about evaluating the impacts of policy on labor market outcomes and my teaching largely focuses on data analysis.

So I come to this uh to this group with a um a strong belief in in data analysis as a way to improve decision making, uh a strong belief in uh policy uh and the importance of good governance, uh and so I welcome the opportunity to serve.

Thank you, Dr.

Phelan.

Seeing no questions from the body.

Um the motion on the floor is to approve item 261379.

Roll call, please.

Thank you, Commissioner Aguilar.

Aye, Commissioner Naya is absent.

Commissioner Daly.

Aye, Commissioner Dagnan is absent.

Commissioner Gaynor is excused.

Commissioner Laurie is absent.

Is Commissioner Laurie is aye?

Thank you.

Commissioner McCasco.

Aye.

Previous votes are all aye.

Commissioner Miller.

Aye.

Commissioner Moore.

Commissioner Moore is absent.

Commissioner Marita.

Moreita I Commissioner Marita is aye.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison is aye.

Commissioner Sean Morrison is excused.

Commissioner Scott.

Commissioner Stamps is aye.

Commissioner Trevor?

Aye.

Commissioner Trevor is aye.

Commissioner Vasquez.

Aye.

Commissioner Vasquez is aye.

Mr.

Chairman.

Aye.

Is aye.

Mr.

Chairman, we have 12 ayes and five absent vote.

Motion passes.

And the chairman now take a motion to approve item 261413, the appointment of Michael Rasick to the Norwood Park Street Lighting District.

That motion is made by uh Commissioner Miller, seconded by Commissioner Trevor.

Um I believe that Mr.

Rasik was here or was was online or is online.

Is he still online, Mr.

Rasick?

Are you there?

Yes.

Yes, I'm here.

Uh can you briefly describe uh your desire to be appointed to this position?

Sure.

Um as you said, my name is Michael Reisek.

Um I've been a Norridge I've lived in Norwich pretty much my whole life.

Um I want to serve as a trustee because I care deep deeply about our commute com communic community.

And I want to help ensure that the residents continue to enjoy safe, reliable, and well maintained a street lighting.

Um as a trustee, I would be commit committed to being accessible, that listening to residents, uh concerns and working responsibly to protect uh tax paypayer resources while enhancing the quality of life in the neighborhood.

Um so that's why I want to serve, and I hope I have your vote.

Thank you, sir.

Seeing no questions, Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Well, I hope this is appropriate, but my pertinent question is being in that region.

Are you a Dino's pizza fan, off Higgins?

Yes.

Thank you.

That was not a quid pro quo though, Commissioner, by the way.

Uh any further comments?

Commissioner Trevor.

Um, yes, I just wanted to thank uh Michael for waiting uh for uh us.

We're a little behind today.

So thank you for hanging on and giving us your uh sure your speech.

Seeing no further questions, a motion on the floor.

Sorry.

The motion on the floor is to uh approve item 261413.

Roll call.

Commissioner Aguilar, your vote.

Commissioner Aguilar?

Is he here?

Nope.

Thank you.

Commissioner Aguilar is absent.

Commissioner Naya, aye, Commissioner Naya is aye.

Commissioner Daly, Commissioner Daly is aye, Commissioner Dagnan?

Aye, Commissioner Dagnan is aye.

Yes, thank you, ma'am.

I will Commissioner Dagnan is aye, Commissioner Gaynor is excused, Commissioner Laurie.

Aye.

Commissioner Laurie is aye, Commissioner McCasm McCaskill.

Commissioner McCaskill is aye.

Commissioner Miller.

Aye.

Commissioner Miller is aye.

Commissioner Moore is absent.

Commissioner Marita.

Morita Aye.

Commissioner Morita is aye.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Kevin Moore is an aye.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison is aye.

Commissioner Sean Morrison is excused.

Commissioner Scott?

Aye.

Commissioner Scott is aye.

Commissioner Stamps?

Aye.

Commissioner Stamps is aye.

Commissioner Trevor?

Aye.

Commissioner Trevor is aye.

Commissioner Vasquez.

Commissioner Vasquez is aye.

Mr.

Chairman?

Aye.

Mr.

Chairman is aye.

Mr.

Chairman, 13 ayes for absent vote.

Motion carries.

Commissioner Aguilar?

I'm sorry.

Should we add it?

Yes.

Thank you.

Commissioner Aguilar is aye.

Changes your vote to 143.

Motion carries.

Michael, you will be officially approved at the county board meeting tomorrow.

Thank you for willing your willingness to serve.

The chair will now take a motion to approve item 261414 as amended in the errata.

Proposed ordinance amendment to the vacancy section of the county code.

That motion is made by Commissioner Scott, seconded by Commissioner Lowry.

This ordinant amendment aligns the county board with the current method by which uh vacancies are appointed and for a state legislative seat or for a county commissioner seat.

Uh when I made this change uh at the behest of the League of Women Voters, um I did not make the language consistent with the prior um method by which these people are replaced, and I have my understanding is that there is no objection from the league.

And if there are no questions, leave to add all.

Leave to add all in the four, please, to 261414.

And would you please now have a roll call?

And again, this to approve item number 1414 moved by Commissioner Scott, second by Commissioner Laurie.

Commissioner Aguilar, your vote?

Aye.

Commissioner Aguilar is aye.

Commissioner Naya.

Commissioner Naya is aye.

Commissioner Daly.

Commissioner Daly is aye.

Commissioner Dagnan?

Aye.

Commissioner Dagnan is aye.

Commissioner Gaynor is excused.

Commissioner Laurie.

Commissioner Laurie is aye.

Commissioner McCaskill?

Commissioner McCaskill is aye.

Commissioner Miller.

Commissioner Miller is aye.

Commissioner Moore.

Is absent.

Commissioner Morita.

Morita I.

Commissioner Marita is aye.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison is aye.

Commissioner Sean Morrison is excused.

Commissioner Scott.

Commissioner Scott is that.

Commissioner Stamps.

Aye.

Commissioner Stamps is aye.

Commissioner Trevor.

Aye.

Commissioner Trevor is aye.

Commissioner Vasquez?

Commissioner Vasquez is aye.

Mr.

Chairman.

Aye.

Chairman is I.

Chairman 14 aye, three absent.

Motion passes.

Before we consider the next item, I do want to just thank the electeds who are still here with us.

Thank you for sticking it out.

I know that we have a very important hearing, not a hearing, a discussion on property taxes, which are going to get to next.

But one more item uh before that, which is uh item 261409, a resolution calling for a national commitment to defend, protect, and expand the right to vote in Cook County.

That motion is made by Commissioner McCaskill, seconded by Vice Chair Degnan.

Commissioner Matt Caskell, would you like to speak to this item?

Thank you, Chair.

Um acknowledging that we have already gone through the resolution last month, and we are moving it to hearing now.

I believe that the public speakers have already uh conveyed my intent with this resolution.

Thank you.

You are welcome.

Are all included as sponsors on this?

Do we know?

If not, yeah, I think we are all on.

Anyway, thank you.

Uh the the uh motion on the floor is to approve 261409 uh roll call, please.

Commissioner Aguilar, you vote?

I Commissioner Aguilar is aye.

Commissioner Naya.

Commissioner Naya is I Commissioner Daly.

Commissioner Daly is aye.

Commissioner Dagnan?

Commissioner Dagnan is aye.

Commissioner Gaynor is excused.

Commissioner Laurie.

Commissioner Laurie is aye.

Commissioner McCaskill?

Commissioner McCaskill is aye.

Commissioner Miller?

Commissioner Miller is aye.

Commissioner Moore is absent.

Commissioner Marita.

Commissioner Marita is aye.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison is absent.

Commissioner Sean Morrison is excused.

Commissioner Scott.

Aye.

Commissioner Scott is aye.

Commissioner Stamps.

Aye.

Commissioner Stamps is aye.

Commissioner Trevor?

Aye.

Commissioner Trevor is aye.

Commissioner Vasquez.

Aye.

Commissioner Vasquez is aye.

Mr.

Chairman.

Aye.

Chairman is aye.

Chairman, 13 ayes for absent vote.

Motion passes.

The Chair now intended a motion to receive and file.

Item 261230.

A proposed resolution calling for a meeting of the legislation and intergeneral relations committee of the Cook County Board for Distribution of Property Tax Revenues.

That motion is made by Vice Chair Dagnan, seconded by Commissioner Scott.

Now each of the bodies involved in the property tax process will give a presentation following Commissioner questions.

Before we begin, our first speaker will be Jim Thompson from the President's office, who will give a five-minute discussion.

And he knows that that less is more in my world.

And also the individual presentations I have requested to be laid led to or limited to 10 minutes.

And I am going to time everybody on that one as well.

I just want to make sure that everyone who is here and I want to thank the school districts and the libraries for sharing their very significant and well founded concerns.

They are being heard, and that's the purpose of this particular meeting to bring all of these property tax aspects of the county into one room to discuss the questions that were asked and then the questions that the commissioners may have.

I'm going to tell you that the purpose of this is not to look back.

I think there's a lot of things we could talk about for the next several hours about what happened and why we got here.

I don't think that is worthwhile.

What I want to know is when the tax bills are going to go out and when these taxing bodies are going to get their money.

That's what I think is important for now.

And casting blame, I think, is counterproductive.

So we'll see how that goes.

But we're going to start with Jim Thompson for the President's office for a brief overview of where we are and what we anticipate as to when you're going to get your money this time around.

Jim.

Hello.

Is this on?

No, I'm just one.

There we go.

Thank you.

All right.

And thank you, Chairman and Commissioners, for this opportunity.

I actually wrote good morning, so I'm going to say good afternoon instead.

So wishful thank you.

So for decades, Cook County has faced a fundamental challenge.

The property tax offices have struck struggled to consistently produce property tax bills on time.

The root cause wasn't any single office or single decision point.

It was the lack of clear authority, shared structure, and coordinated processes among the independently elected offices that make up our property tax system.

When President Preckwinkle entered office in 2010, although she did not have statutory authority or responsibility for the property tax system, she recognized these long-standing issues and convened the offices to begin coordinated work towards a predictable regular billing cycle.

That collaboration led to a major accomplishment.

In 2020 in 2012, second installment property tax bills went out on time for the first time in 34 years.

As this board knows well, and and everyone knows well, the delays that we experienced last year were not isolated to technology.

As this board knows well and everyone knows well, the delays that we experienced last year were not isolated to technology, and we will talk about the technology in this hearing.

They also highlighted structural challenges that have been embedded in the system for decades.

Before we talk about reforms, it is important to level set the system, you know, level set why the system is uniquely complex.

The Cook County Property Tax Officer offices administer the most complex property tax system in the nation.

They manage more than 1.8, almost 1.9 million parcels.

They interact with hundreds of taxing districts and oversee the distribution of billions of dollars in revenues.

Responsibilities are spread across multiple independently elected offices, each with distinct statutory authority, separate systems, and no real direct reporting relationship to one another.

Success depends entirely on coordination, shared timelines, and shared data across offices that were not originally designed to operate as a unified system.

President Preckwinkle has been clear from the start.

These challenges require more than short-term solutions.

Under her leadership, modernization became a priority.

She also launched the property tax reform group to bring stakeholders together, invested in technology upgrades, and she established mechanisms for independent expertise and structured inter-office collaboration.

Her focus has been on building a property tax system that is more transparent, more accountable, and more resilient.

But for today, it is important to understand the interconnected flow of the responsibilities across the offices and the property tax system.

And if you can see up here, we have we have a slide that kind of explains the system.

So the assessor begins the reassessment process for the tax year, they begin at the beginning of the year.

And that normally ends in December.

The Board Review overlaps that and provides a second level of appeals.

And that that assessment and sets the final assessments in May.

Once both have been completed their work, the final assessments are delivered to the Illinois Department of Revenue to calculate the final equalization factor.

Once that is done, the assessor applies exemptions and then transfers the file to the clerk who calculates tax rates using district levies and assessment data.

Finally, the Treasurer prints and mails the bills and then collects and distributes funds to the hundreds of taxing districts.

Any disruption in this chain at any step affects the entire schedule.

Last year's delays highlighted the fragility of the system.

They enforced the need for modernization and underscored the importance of stronger governance, clearer processes, and more consistent cross-office alignment.

Looking ahead, our focus remains on building the system that taxpayers and taxing districts can trust, a system that is modern, transparent, and reliable.

The goal is not just to prevent a repeat of last year's delays.

It is to address the deeper structural issues that have shaped this system for generations.

This is the only way to ensure the long-term stability and predictability that both taxpayers and governmental bodies depend on.

Let me close by emphasizing this reform is difficult, but it is necessary work.

President Prewinkel remains fully committed to working with each other with each of the property tax offices, working with the board to strengthen the governance, accountability, and performance of the property tax system for today's residents and for future generations.

So thank you.

You have 30 seconds to spare, Jim.

Good job.

All right.

Any questions for uh Mr.

Thompson?

Commissioner Lowry.

Jim, thank you.

And thanks for always being available to answer questions and give us updates.

Just would you briefly just touch on the work of the reform/slash working group you referenced?

Just give me, I want everyone just to have an idea what that group is focusing on.

The purpose of the group, and just to understand the components of it, is made up of all the property tax offices within the county and the President's office and other representatives of offices under the President.

Its main goal is to reform the system to a fair, equitable, predictable, and stable system.

And that is really a shared goal across all of all of the offices.

We do this through a comprehensive look at the property tax system, not just single components, but but how they each interact.

But also it's backed by research.

We have third-party research that comes in and really kind of demonstrates research, and we take the research, move it into recommendations, and then kind of kind of move that into reform.

So just one follow-up, so it is evidence-based.

And is it fair to say the focus is both short-term and a longer-term scope?

I think it has to be.

And yes, it is.

Thanks.

I mean, I mean, at the same time, it is both looking at the operational needs and how we can collaborate together today, but also on the long-term comprehensive, how we can you know make that long-term reform.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh Chairman Daly.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

And thank you for the presentation.

Um the chairman indicated, we don't want to look back.

Oh and hopefully we've learned from the past.

So as you look at where we are today, we know the bills are probably doing October.

So with these recommendations, have a good percent of been implemented, and the long-term recommendations, what are they in?

Why can't we just put them in effect immediately with the elected officials?

Because the budget is coming off.

And if there's any recommendations that have not been complied with are done, I think we should strongly just do it as subteam members.

So that would be interesting what recommendations are not being done.

So as you go through this process, your office is informed if the how late as of now it's October.

Correct?

Yes.

And you'll be able to inform the taxing districts.

Or some if there's going beyond November.

Yeah, I I I think I think even more so that we'll will communicate with the taxing districts on the progress of where we are.

And I think that was the purpose of having that chart up was to demonstrate that, you know, once the Board of Review finishes their work, it goes to IDOR, it goes to the assessor and kind of those different milestones.

So we'll understand where we are, and it won't be a sudden, oh, we're going to be late or we're going to be earlier than what we thought.

As we watch the progress, everyone will have an idea of where we are in the system.

And the third party is Tyler, where they are on that.

Because all the electeds could do their work and have that work done.

And if Tyler is not able to if they're and not able, they they give have given their regions, whatever that region is, they would submit it to you or to who?

It will be submitted collectively to to all of those offices.

But Tyler is here today to the other.

No, but I mean that's that's part of it.

If as you go through and there it either Tyler has a problem, whether it's being done internally or whatever, or with an elected, I think we should be informed.

Yes, yes, we we will.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

There are no further questions from Mr.

Thompson.

We'll now call up uh Fritz Kage, the assessor of Cook County, and thank you so much for sticking out with us.

And you'll have the 10 minutes to kind of present where we are and where we're going.

Chairman Britton, Commissioners, uh again, uh I also had good morning written down, but no, or good afternoon.

Um thanks for this opportunity to discuss the assessor's office role in our county's property tax system.

Um let's start with an update on where our office is in the 2025 assessment cycle.

We have a slide here.

Here you can see the 2025 uh reassessment schedule and how it proceeded.

The assessor's office completed its assessments and appeals work uh on January 2nd, 2026.

As we develop our schedule, we're in regular contact with the Board of Review throughout the tax year.

Our office meets every two weeks to discuss changes and updates.

Uh we have also made operational changes to ensure the board review is able to open for appeals as soon as possible.

Uh we reassess one-third of the county each year.

Last year we reassessed the North Suburbs.

These values will appear on the second installment tax bill uh coming later this year.

Uh once our office completes the reassessment and appeals process, um uh as you can see on the following slide.

Um, the board review hears appeals.

Um from there, we uh the baton is passed back to our office.

This week we worked with the board review to finalize the results of their 2025 appeals and prepare the data for the Illinois Department of Revenue, or IDOR, which was referenced by uh Jim Thompson, uh, which sets the county's state equalizer.

Every day counts to ensure on-time delivery of tax bills.

I want to applaud both our office's chief management officer, Morella Villafuerte, and the Board of Review staff for its work over the weekend to certify the data for the 2025 tax year as soon as possible.

We're actually sending the data to IDOR today.

Uh once IDOR completes its work on the equalizer, we then apply at the assessor's office property tax savings exemptions for homeowners, including those who receive the low-income senior freeze, as well as veterans with disabilities and people with disabilities.

From there, the clerk sets the tax rate and the treasurer sends out the bills.

As you can see in the slide here, it's a multi-step process, and each office can only begin once the proceeding office finishes its work, as uh Jim Thompson mentioned.

Ongoing conversation and collaboration have been a cornerstone in this process.

Uh, with that said, we have been challenged by working with a vendor that has not always been able to deliver a working product in a timely way.

For the past two years, our office has not been able to generate reports for IDOR through the Tyler system.

Last year, our office was forced to manually calculate these reports or risk missing our deadlines for the final state equalizer.

Because of the hard work of our operations team, IDOR was able to release the final report, the final equalizer, just eight days later than normal last year.

This year, we needed to manually generate these IDOR reports again.

Though I'm pleased to say that the Tyler system is now working as expected, and this will not be an issue next year.

Turning to the 2026 reassessment of the South and West suburbs, we are at the beginning of the process.

Tax bills reflecting, as you can see in the slide, uh tax bills reflecting these assessments will reach homeowners in the second half of 2027.

We will continue to communicate updates to our schedule with the board review so they are able to decide when to open appeals for this tax year.

Our office continues to uphold a commitment to transparency and predictability.

Our award-winning outreach team holds more than 200 events a year for homeowners and small businesses who have questions about the assessment and appeals process.

We also release an annual report each year with extensive information about how Cook Counties and Chicago's tax base change during the assessment and peals process.

The annual report also contains data about residential sales prices and the methodology used to assess commercial properties, which is valuable to investors.

To our knowledge, our office publishes more data than any other assessor's office in the nation, including the model and code for our residential assessments, all the inputs for commercial assessments, and detailed information on how we handle tax rates and expenses.

The extensive work on tax rate calculations allowed us to collaborate with the board review on a key element of the Cook County Reform Group's commercial evaluation recommendations, a shared tax rate methodology between the two offices.

This roadmap of improvements uh helps create more certainty and predictability and accuracy in the property tax system.

In conjunction with the board of review and the president's office, this methodology was released to the public earlier this month.

Um it is this spirit of collaboration that I'll end on today.

I want uh all of you to know that we will continue to work in partnership with other offices of the property tax system to ensure we're doing our part to deliver tax bills on time.

And I can take questions.

Thank you.

Mr.

Assessor, we'll start with uh Commissioner Trevor, then Commissioner Stamps.

Thank you, Chair.

Just a quick question.

Um you were talking about the uh manual generation of uh reports that get sent to IDOR, and you said last year uh that it was eight days late.

You also said that the um you finished doing that process again manually this year.

How many days late did it get delivered this year?

Um so yes, so last year um the um last year because the the software from the module from from Tyler for the uh equalizer was not working properly, we had to calculate it manually.

And IDOR issued the um issued the multi the multiplier eight days late.

Um my chief of staff Scott Smith can uh tell you about anticipated timeline.

We are just transmitting the data to IDOR today, so of course we don't know when they will issue the multiplier.

That's right.

So we're sending that data today, they're aware of it.

Um we've worked out a lot of those issues uh with IDOR so that they can handle um the new data that we're sending them.

We also have uh ironed out the kinks with the uh Tyler system, so that will be able to be processed uh man or automatically through the Tyler system next year.

Um just to follow up on this, uh, and I realize that essentially you've handed it off at this point to IDOR and you're waiting for them to do their part in this process.

But um where are you where is this handoff this year uh in the schedule relative to that the same point last year?

Well, actually the multiplier will be issued later this year uh than last year, basically because we received um the tax rate data.

We we had to start later this year than the previous year.

And how many days late off of the schedule are we this year?

Do you uh do you want to?

At this point, sure, I can talk uh speak to that.

Um we are able to process that data after we get it from the board of review.

Um I believe normally, according to the slide that Jim showed, uh you can see that we start that process at the beginning of May, and we're in the middle of June right now.

Okay, thank you.

Commissioner Stampson, thank you.

Thank you, Chair, thank you, um Assessor Kagey.

Uh, one of the things I'm always really curious about is what information is shared with um our neighbors, our constituents that just really explains the process of how these taxes, the flow chart, because so many different entities um have their hands or have some involvement with our property taxes that I think it just gets really confusing and very convoluted.

So I'm just curious as to is the is there anything like that that exists?

Yes.

Um there are multiple layers that come from our office.

I know some of the other offices also explain the process.

I've seen uh narratives uh from other uh property tax uh the with other county property tax offices as well.

What we do is we have you know we have more than one uh in in-person or uh virtual event per business day during the year, working with constituents in our mailers.

We worked very diligently to uh make them to eliminate jargon and explain how the assessment piece of the system works and how it's connected to your tax bill.

Um so that goes out in your mailer in your reassessment year every year.

Um we've uh we've really revamped our website so it's more accessible to people.

Um we of course we have our call center where we get more than 10,000 calls a month.

Um we have uh in-person service, including creeters at our office downtown, as well as in our satellite offices in Bridgeville and Markham and Skokie.

Um we've done an incredible amount of outreach.

We've done more outreach in our office than this office has ever done before.

Can there always be more?

Sure.

And we're always happy to take uh ideas and input.

We feel like we've gotten better each year, and we have torqued up the number of events that we have each year, each of the last several years.

Okay, thank you for that.

My second question is um I know oftentimes, and and trust me, I'm I'm just kind of wrapping my head around how all of the property tax um stuff work as well, but I know that there's a relationship between the businesses and how those businesses or entities are offset residential property taxes.

So I'm curious as to what you think or how will the quantum uh facility that's gonna go up on the south side, how might that impact the neighbors in that community relative to their property taxes?

Sure.

Um it's it's complicated because there are multiple different moving pieces there.

You're right.

Um that uh the way our property tax system works is we have all the different levies that have to be paid, in this case in Chicago.

Uh it's about nine billion dollars in levies in Chicago for uh the Chicago public schools, for the city, for many other different taxing agencies.

And uh the each property owner's share of total assessed value in Chicago is their share of that levy.

Um and that in commercial and residential share that burden together.

Um so the more commercial assessed value that we have, the less uh every other property homeowner, uh every other homeowner and uh other property taxpayer has to you know shoulder that burden.

So in in general, more commercial property uh is gonna reduce the burden for everyone else.

Um in the case of the quantum project, this is a parcel that has basically been vacant for decades since I graduated from high school at Kenwood and uh in 1989.

It's been vacant.

Um if this property is developed and filled it will become you know generated, it will be generating taxes.

So in that sense, it will be uh reducing each other Chicago taxpayer's share of the tax burden.

The effect that that has on particular homeowners in the community around the quantum project depends on how it affects the the home values there.

Um what we have what we mentioned, and we mentioned this in our annual report is we don't anticipate a significant effect on the the quantum project until probably a couple of reassessment cycles from now thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

You're welcome to be able to do that.

Commissioner Morrison, do you wish to call your committee?

It's one o'clock.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Uh with the time of one uh one having come and gone.

I would like to call the technology and innovation committee to order.

Will the Secretary please call the roll?

Thank you, sir.

Commissioner Aguilar?

Here.

Commissioner Degnan.

Commissioner McCaskill.

Commissioner Miller.

Vice Chair Sean Morrison is excused.

Commissioner Scott.

Thank you.

Commissioner Trevor?

Here.

Commissioner Vasquez.

Chairman is present.

Chairman, you have all members present.

There is a quorum, only one absent excuse for Commissioner Sean Morrison.

Thank you.

The committee will stand in recess to the call of the chair.

Commissioner Vacquez Vasquez is recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

And thank you, Assessor and Scott, for being so responsive to our office.

How often are conversations happening with IDOR to ensure that they're doing their work?

What's sort of the accountability layer there?

I'll hand this off to Scott.

Sure.

We've been having pretty regular conversations with idor.

They have a very um, I'll call it regimented schedule in terms of the work that they do.

Um so we have been talking with them uh via email, via phone calls, via teams meetings throughout the year when they're available in order to make sure that we their system can accept the data that we're sending them.

Because over the past couple years, this data has changed, they've had to make modifications to their system as well.

Um so this speaks to what Jim Thompson was talking about, which is you have all these different agencies that are all separate from each other.

Um you have to sort of you know cajole and persuade and and compromise in order to get this work done.

Um so we've had conversations with IDOR as often as possible.

Um recently as last week.

Um so they they're aware of what our our schedules are.

And there was uh mention of how some of the issues with the Tyler um technologies component was resolved, but you just mentioned that there are internal modifications that they're making as well.

The way this would work is it's everything is designed to work through the Tyler system.

Um as you've seen, if you've uh followed the different timelines of defect fixes, some things have been mostly operational but still have some defects.

That's kind of where we've been with uh various products.

The way in which that data gets delivered to IDOR has still had some defects.

So what we did is we manually calculated and created the data ourselves without doing it inside the Tyler system for the past two years.

That has meant IDOR is able to accept the data, and we're able to keep the property tax bill process moving.

So we haven't let those difficulties with the product prevent us from doing our part to keep tax bills on time.

But uh the good news is we've resolved all those defects and starting with next year's tax cycle, that will be done within the Tyler system.

And has IDOR given any indication to your office in terms of how long they might be taking with the data received today?

I don't want to speak for them, but typically they take seven to ten days.

In the last couple of years, they've been able to hit seven right on the dot.

Um so they I will say they're great partners at the state, um, and they understand the importance of this.

So um we're assuming you know, no more than 10, but more likely seven.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Degnan, then Commissioner McCaskill.

Thank you, Assessor.

Um, and thank you, Scott, for being here and presenting today.

So just to kind of pit it and move back a little bit.

So you had said earlier that the Tyler system is generally working as designed.

So are there outstanding uh defects that you're still working on to make sure that it continues to operate as designed, or where are you on that functionality for what was initially promised to where we are at today?

I can't speak for the other tax offices, uh, but our work um that we've been on the Tyler system since 2021 is largely working, um, is in production, as they say.

There are still some defects.

That is still a uh public document that gets updated every Friday.

So folks can track how many defects there are in our office versus the other offices and see where those products are.

Um but for the most part, our work is proceeding and um is not held back by any defects.

And Tom Lynch is present if you wish to address anything more specific than that.

I am a little hesitant to get too much in the weeds because this is not the technology committee, but if you believe Mr.

Lynch can answer that question, I'm happy to call him up.

Yeah.

Does that sound good?

Either one is fine.

I just the Tom, do you want to the overarching question really has to do with you know the property tax system and the flaws that have happened in large part due to the technology?

And that's what we're here, is my understanding to talk about today.

So I'd like to understand the takeaway from this meeting where those defects remain for each office, not like in a micro sense, but kind of are we 90 percent to where we were promised?

How many defects are there currently with what was initially promised to the assessor's office?

And I'm not talking about change orders and improvements beyond what was initially given in 20 uh 21.

Tom Lynch, uh Chief Invention Officer.

Uh thanks for the question, Commissioner.

Uh as Scott noted, the assessor's office isn't a different state than the county clerk or treasurer's office, because the project was originally contemplated as uh two-phase project.

So the first phase for the CAMA functionalities, that is sorry, the computer mass uh appraisal uh process that the Treasurer's Office uses is excuse me, that the assessor's office uses, has been in production for several years now.

Uh whereas the other tax administration functionality is still being worked for the clerk's office, although it's mostly live for the treasurer's office.

Therefore, while there's uh maintenance activity for all of those functions that are in production, they're not all uh equally new.

So the assessors is the most stable, most established set of the functionality, and the defects that are associated with it are tracked on a uh daily basis.

Uh they're prioritized by the assessor's office, just as the other offices prioritize their defects.

And as Scott noted, uh all of those are tracked and reported on a weekly basis uh so that uh it's publicly available.

Um the project itself, uh that is the milestones and deliverables associated with the original project scope, uh have all of the assessors functionality live and in production.

Uh again, I think Scott alluded to that.

Uh most of the treasurer's office scope is also in live production with the exception of the tax.

Let's just stick with the assessor right now, because that is who is up there.

Really, my only I understand the background.

We've been working on this together for eight years.

That's all like definitions, things for me.

Those are I understand all that.

My question is of what was first promised for the assessor's office, how many defects remain, or or if you don't have the exact number, about what percentage of what was originally promised has not been sufficiently delivered.

And if that's not a question for you, and that's a question for the assessor's office, it doesn't matter who answers it.

It's really what I want to take away is how what percentage has not been fully delivered or how many defects do you have?

If I were to put a percentage on it, I would say probably 95 percent.

There are some other somewhat minor defects that have yet to be resolved.

Um, but they are being worked on.

Um, you know, the work remains.

So um I would say we have 95 percent of what we need.

That was the question I was after.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, and I don't think those remaining defects are on the critical path for what drives the timetable for the tax bills.

Okay.

So you're basically saying that's not gonna it's gonna impact your office.

You're working on it, but it's not really relevant to the delay, the two-month delay that we're looking at, or the disbursements and reimbursements that are being held.

That's correct.

Thank you.

Commissioner McCaskill.

Then I'm gonna I think I take it back, Commissioner Daly, then we're gonna thank you, Chair.

And um this may have already been covered.

Um of the 27 mayors and four Chicago aldermen that I cover, uh, there's one very important question, which is accountability.

So it who would be responsible?

So where is the financial accountability and assistance?

Where is the contingency plan or some policy across the com across the department as these delays take place?

Of course, there's not.

They are not issues of your municipalities or your libraries or your districts.

So who is going to take responsibility for the shortages that people are seeing, especially with those municipalities that have projects that require installment payments that were contingent upon them receiving their tax refunds in a timely manner?

I'm just gonna uh point out that I don't believe that the assessor's office is gonna be the entity that decides that question.

Therefore, we should be asking that ourselves, because it's this county board that determines any of the of that type of issue, not the assessor's office.

Okay.

Well, again, so across all those, where is the conversation?

So I don't care if it's with us or if it's with them, I don't I don't really care.

It's uh an accountability question.

And I'd be happy to discuss that with four of us myself, because I think I know the answer.

Thank you.

Anything nothing further of Chairman Daly, then Commissioner and I, then we're really done.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

So for the thank you.

When you outlined the process.

So compared to last year, we're about a month or month or a half behind.

But that is correct.

Yeah, from where we are from where we were.

So this might be a pro so that's the general if we're a month behind than last year and last year came out, or November during the December.

Does that put as a whole process?

So some that is a I that's a concern that I have when you mentioned that date compared to a year ago.

We're almost oh, we uh now a month behind.

So it doesn't push this process back.

And I don't know if it's your uh your responsibility the chair could maybe time or um uh what what I would say is there's uh you know from from our point of view from the work that we do, you know, we anticipate that we will finish you know our our assessment work by the end of the year.

Um and that that is about you know generally we we on an ideal timetable we'd be done you know in early December.

Um but uh you know there's dependency in terms of when the multipliers issue it depends not only on when we finish our assessment work, but also when the board review can finish its assessment work and then they return data to us, then we can transmit that to IDOR.

So there are a couple of dependencies.

And that date is concerning.

So if I could maybe clear up a little bit, the timeline that Jim Thompson showed is the typical timeline.

We are about a month and a half to two months off of that typical timeline.

Correct, correct.

So that would mean normally you would have a due date of August 1st.

So we're looking more like a due date of October 1st if everything hits the way it's supposed to over the next couple months.

Okay.

Um so we're not, and I think inherent in your question was are we ended up later than November of last year?

And the answer cross your fingers uh and the creek don't rise.

Um more than that.

I'm I'm gonna light multiple candles on that one, Chairman.

Uh and also I think uh the the bodies that are here and are asking for some kind of clarity.

That I mean uh nothing is guaranteed, but that is what we think is gonna happen.

And your planning is then gonna be a big based on a two-month delay, uh, unlike the last time, which was more than that.

So I'm I'm it's not great, but I think and then my goal, I guess my question would be do we try and then catch up to the next period so there's not this continuing one or two month delay.

Well, that's what's my next part.

That's the next part as well.

Yeah, so what do we think?

And I think you've seen that since things happened in November last year, they're happening earlier this year.

We do have that ability to push back into a normal timeline.

Um if folks remember there were some delays in previous years, and we ended up taking a couple years to kind of get back on schedule.

And if nothing else with the IDOR uh transmittable, but you should, as I understand it, used to be in paper, and I think Jim Thompson drove it down to Springfield once uh to get it done.

Uh the fact that it's done electronically and the fact that Tyler's system will now do that for us as opposed to having to do it manually, which I'm sure it takes more time.

I think at least theoretically, might catch us up, and that's the but the key point is that if there is a further delay whatsoever, separate from you, these taxing districts have will be informed.

Correct.

That's right.

And I would I just have to note the General Assembly a few years ago by statute extended all the appeals periods.

Um whereas uh it used to be uh basically 20 business days, they extended it to 30 business days, so that adds two weeks to each township when these are open.

So that is an that presents an additional structural challenge for the assessors office specifically created by that statute.

And just to clarify, we were finished with our assessment and appeal work at the end of last year.

So we were getting stuff in on time.

All right, Commissioner Nye is going to finish.

Um that was part of my original question was about the timeline.

If we because when you said a a month um behind I I wasn't sure if we meant that we were a month behind literally last year when they were sent out, which which would be very concerning, but thanks for answering that.

Um I just want to clarify, I think I understood, but the December date that you mentioned, um that's for next year, right?

It's we're not talking about this here.

Okay, just wanted to verify.

And then I'm just a request um on behalf of me and I'm sure others here.

If you foresee any upcoming delays, I'm just asking every independently elected to just notify us as soon as possible.

We don't want to hear about it after the fact.

So if there is any um it seems like you know, we're trying to move it along and trying to catch up.

Um we heard plenty of testimony, not only today, but we've been hearing it throughout from our constituents, from our taxing bodies, how important it is to get these out.

Um so it's extremely crucial for us to at least understand where we're at in the process and um be given a heads up if we're foreseeing any other additional delays.

Yeah, we're we're happy to do that as we would as a matter of thank you, assessor.

Thanks, Glenn.

Thank you.

Thank you to the assessor.

Uh that was it.

Thank you to the assessor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks, Scott.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Appreciate it.

Next will be the board of review.

Commissioner Steele, Commissioner Cardinals, Commissioner Cardinals, and Commissioner Steele.

And again, you'll also have 10 minutes to present.

Welcome.

Chair.

Who's that go first?

He's gonna present.

All right.

I haven't started the clock yet.

We're good.

All right.

I love it when the plan comes together.

So it's all we've got.

All right.

You may begin.

Good afternoon, everyone.

First and foremost, I'd like to thank Chair Britain.

Chair person.

Green button.

The green button on the US90.

Push that the regular code.

Sorry.

Check one, two.

There you go.

Well, first and foremost, good afternoon.

Wishing that all is well with you and your respective families.

I'd like to thank uh Chair Britain, Chairperson Dagnan for giving us the opportunity to explain the board's role, the statutory role in the property tax appeal system, as well as explain what uh efforts we've undertaken to make uh this process more efficient.

So I apologize.

My name is William O'Shields.

I'm the Chief Deputy Commissioner of the Cook County Board of Review.

Now, you've heard um from both um Jim Thompson and Assessor Fritz in terms of what the board's role is in the property tax system.

They gave you a very broad uh overview.

I just want to I won't belabor the point, but I do want to add a few things that they may not have mentioned.

So I'll start with this.

As a quad quasi judicial body, the board of review weighs the evidence presented to adjudicate assessment appeals for property tax purposes.

We do not create the initial assessment, and that's the distinction between the board of review and the assessor's office.

Our statutory task is to adjudicate overassessment appeals.

Now, in addition to that, we also review certificates of error, certificates of correction, omitted assessments, and exemption applications.

As discussed earlier, the property tax timeline is date and deadline driven.

It's a case study of dependencies and more importantly, causation.

Any disruption in that timeline has downstream impacts.

So I just want folks to be aware of that.

And as was mentioned earlier, when there's a disruption, it generally takes at least two cycles to get back to the July mail, August due date.

So with that being said, they are approximately 76 handshakes between the board of review and the assessor's office.

The first handshake or exchange of data occurs when the assessor has finalized and certified their appeal process.

They then transmit that township to the board of review.

Only then do we assume jurisdiction over that township.

Once we assume jurisdiction over that township, we initiate the appeal process.

This is a distinction between the board and assessor's office.

We do allow taxpayers the opportunities to be heard.

So we conduct oral hearings.

We also have a review process that gives taxpayers the opportunity to post the initial decision, uh point out certain errors or mistakes that the board may have made and gives us the opportunity to correct those errors of mistakes before initiating the uh auditing process and the certification process and then again second handshake transmitting those townships back to the assessor's office.

So I think that's very important to um highlight where is um in Cook County, the only place where a taxpayer can present uh an oral argument is at the board of review.

And it's generally in instances where there are unique valuation circumstances that cannot be explained within the four corners of the documents presented.

So and I I do want to also the assessor's office in terms of the collaboration throughout this session.

And that culminated in the Board Review finishing this work on and about June 9th.

Both um parties work throughout this weekend.

Matter of fact, the first of two of the six towns were certified Saturday night at 1130 p.m.

And so, and then the last towns were certified Monday night at about 1140 p.m.

So that's just a testament to the hard work of both the assessor's office and the board of review.

So that is pretty much overview of our statutory role in the process.

And now I will transition to the Chair, Commissioner Cartness.

Thank you, William, and thank you for your hard work.

And thank you all of you honorable body here for listening to uh to what we're uh uh uh recommending to you guys and also um communicating to you what what transpired in the last uh on the last months on session.

Um so thank you, Chair Britain and um again all of you.

The Board of Yo continues to make meaningful progress in improving operational efficiency.

Uh recent data from the Northern Triennual Assessment Cycle further highlights our progress uh is board uh as William alluded to.

The board completed a tax year 2025 in 250 business days, which is seven days faster than 2022.

Uh the last comparable reassessment cycle.

So it just gives you an idea more or less uh our efficiency and just compare you know triennuals in terms of where we're at uh uh to this day.

Um and this was done despite many challenges that were presented and still presented uh in this in this hearing today.

Additionally, the 2022-2025 average session length was 244 business days, reinforcing that we're not only improving year to year, but also sustaining faster processing timelines during complex reassessment periods.

Notwithstanding also the uh the glitches in technology that you have heard uh in NALSIM, uh this continued progress reflects our focus on reducing the time it takes to process appeals while maintaining accuracy and fairness for taxpayers.

Um I've always said uh I'm pro-border review.

I think it is the people's court.

Uh is where I think the appeal process should really should be held.

Um now I will say this additional at the same time, the board review is making other improvements throughout the commercial valuation study recommendation that should have a positive impact on the overall tax cycle.

Um, and this is the property tax uh working group that everybody's been hearing.

We've been talking about uh the collaboration is taking place, and I think finally we're we're we're we're coming at a zenith uh of understanding that that by collaborating and working together is how we get things done for the people of Cook County.

Um by lining some aspects in in this valuation approach, uh we are advancing the border modernization of the property tax system and ensuring fair, more uniform outcomes throughout Cook County.

In addition, we are advancing several joint initiatives in the assessor's office uh with the assessors office aimed at improving transparency, efficiency, and accuracy.

We are expanding access to valuation of evidence and income and expense data, which wasn't before.

And this is why I'm I'm so glad that uh uh we're coming to terms with that uh at the board review, allowing both offices to rely on a more complete and consistent data set.

The board is now receiving more comprehensive hearing packets and increased participation from the assessor's office during hearings.

Again, this was did not happen before.

And that has strengthened collaboration and enhanced the quality and speed of the decision making in the appeal process.

Together, these efforts demonstrate clear progress toward a more efficient, again, transparent and equitable property tax system that better service the residents of Cook County.

Now, many of you know obviously that our our tax bills are going to be laid again.

Um we're fighting hard uh to uh streamline that that even those days that so that it is not lengthy like last year.

Um, I want to thank obviously all the people involved at the board because I I I'm there every day uh hearing what's happening on the ground.

Uh so I can I really commend uh our team uh for the steadfastness that they that they uh that they showed, and really with also the assessor.

Um I really want to commend the assessor for for uh you know uh sort of the this new day of of collaboration and understanding even on tax rate uh uh you know valuations that they're working on uh all always always with the uh progress and in mind of helping the taxpayer, which uh I do on a daily basis.

So I I leave you with that.

And I want to make sure you're my oh I want to we are also out of time, Commissioner Silver.

Sorry, I just want to say before uh Commissioner Rogers just asked me to uh uh excuse him and also let you guys know that he had the doctor's appointment, and I talked at length about what needed to happen today.

And so um he is not here but he's here with us.

Thank you.

Commissioner Steele.

Um well, in conservation of time, I just want to express the Board of Review is three individually elected offices.

Um we each have roughly around 40 staff members.

Each one of those offices needs to hear every appeal.

Um we have an average of about 3,000 400 um appeals heard every day.

Um from taking office in 2022, I initiated a program called STARA to standardize the appeal process for residential properties, which has allowed my district to finish ahead of time and under budget for our overtime this year.

Um so I really like to um you know thank the staff for their hard work and implementing that.

Um, you know, education has been a very important process in our office.

Upon taking off office, we had three members in my staff that had a designation in assessing, or that means translates to training and specific assessing.

Um right now my staff total has 36 with designations and then the board-wide we have 46.

And so it is just something that the board has taken very seriously, ensuring that our staff is educated to make those decisions.

Um with that being said, I'm open to any questions the commissioners may have.

All right.

Any questions for any member of the Board of Review?

Seeing seeing none, apparently you guys hit it out of the box.

Well done.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioners.

Next we'll hear from the clerk's office.

And I I was contacted by Clerk Gordon, who um uh had an a prior ex engagement and was very regretful that she could not be present, but told me that uh her staff would ably present on the issues that the clerk has and where we are in the timeline and how it's going to be done going forward.

Deputy.

Good to see you too, sir.

I too had good morning in my statement, so good afternoon.

Chairman Britton and members of the legislation and intergovernmental relations committee.

It is our pleasure to be here today on behalf of Clerk Monica Gordon, who is traveling and cannot attend this meeting.

I'm Cedric Giles, Chief of Staff, and here with me is Jane Gleffy, our deputy chief of staff and chief legal counsel.

Also here with us are our subject matter experts, Deputy Clerk of Tax Services, Carolyn Ellby, and manager of tax extensions, Tanya Antifer.

We are here at the chairman's request to share the clerk's role and task in the county's property tax cycle pursuant to the resolution passed by the board in April.

After the assessor has completed assessments, the clerk's tax extension team calculates rates for nearly 1,000 taxing districts and over 400 TIFF districts each year.

These rates are then applied to the taxable values of all 1.8 million pens in Cook County to bill and collect taxes.

This process typically takes between 16 and 21 days to complete, doing five distinct tasks as follows.

One, we aggregate and proof, equalize assessed values for all taxing districts.

That task takes anywhere from three to four days.

Two, we aggregate and proof new property for tax-capped districts.

That process, that task takes about another three to four days.

Three, we calculate rates for all districts, a process that takes anywhere from six to seven days.

This is about two to three days, not including weekends.

And fifth, we produce a subset of tax of test tax bills to uh verify the accuracy of the math.

That process takes about two to three days.

These tasks are the clerk's responsibilities near the end of the property tax cycle and are dependent on the completion of work by our fellow property tax agencies.

Once we finish our work, then the final phase of the cycle is in the treasurer's hand.

Outside of this work of calculating the tax rates for the taxing districts of Cook County, the clerk's office is also charged with managing the redemption process from homeowners who are in jeopardy or potentially losing their property due to property tax payment delinquency.

And that concludes my brief remarks, summarizing the clerk's role in a property tax bill preparation.

Thank you for your attention.

Our team and I are happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you very much, Deputy Clerk.

Um in the meantime, I believe we should call asset management and criminal justice.

So Commissioner Miller, would you call your committee first and then whoever the vice chair Commissioner Moore is not present, whoever the vice chair might call that one?

Thank you, Chair.

Um the hour of 125 having arrived, like the call the Cook County Asset Management Committee to order.

Madam Secretary, can you call the roll?

Thank you.

Commissioner Aguilar is absent.

Commissioner Naya is absent.

Commissioner Britton?

Here.

Thank you.

Commissioner Dagnan.

Present.

Commissioner McCaskill.

Present.

Commissioner Moore is absent.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Thank you.

Commissioner Sean Morrison is excused.

Madam Chair is present.

Ma'am, you do have a quorum.

We'll add those members that are missing when they return.

Thank you.

We'll recess to the call of the chair.

And uh criminal justice.

Umore is not present.

Vice Chair Stance.

We'll just call it when somebody comes.

Okay.

That's fine.

We'll return to legislation.

Uh and questions starting with Commissioner Degnan for the clerk's office.

Thank you.

Um for your presentation this morning.

Much like I asked the assessor's office, Tyler Technology had the obligation to complete the system, the IS world system that we use for the property tax system.

How much or what percentage of the system that was first promised to you has been fully delivered?

And how many defects are outstanding.

Good afternoon.

Uh Jim Gleffy, Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Legal Counsel for a clerk's office, and good afternoon, uh Chair and Commissioners on the on the committee.

Um our role is Chief Giles had said is is twofold in in the tax process.

In the beginning, before tax bills go out, we we would deal with the tax rates.

Um generally functioning fully in that system.

Um there are maybe a handful of defects.

I I heard last report four defects in the extensions component of Tyler that our office is using.

Um I understand is we're fully using that that software for extensions, and that um even though there are defects, it's not going to impact our ability to get things done within our time frame.

Um as it relates to redemptions, which is just as a refresher, after tax bills have gone out, tax bills have become delinquent because the homeowner has not paid uh their taxes.

Um there's a tax sale, and then after the tax sale, our office is responsible for accepting redemption payments from homeowners and and other interested parties.

So we are still not fully functional in the redemptions component of Tyler.

We're not live in production yet.

Um there's still several um, I would say technical dependencies that need to occur before we could go live.

Um main buckets.

There's um court fees and and steps payments need to be reviewed and manually entered in the system.

Um certain blackout data, which blackout data is certain just referring to certain transactions that have occurred between December and May that may not be reflected in the system because it wasn't live yet.

We're gonna have to enter all those transactions into the Tyler system before we could go live.

Um then there's also some of the legacy data that we need to do our job, such as uh providing bills to uh delinquent homeowners.

Um that's forfeiture data, special uh forfeited special assessment data and uh sale and error slash uh vacated tax sales.

Our team is reviewing those uh pieces of data, trying to work with BOT and Tyler to make sure that is how we expect it to look before that data gets looked into the Tyler system, and then finally we just need to uh work with our our uh cashiering vendor to integrate with Tyler and make sure that all of our functionalities is uh is there, including the ability to accept partial payments, uh because we do that for situations in which there's bankruptcies, but also as some of you may know, uh state law has changed, it allows us to collect partial payments uh from delinquent taxpayers going forward as well.

So we're gonna be implementing that.

So those are the four big main buckets of offering.

Let me stop you on the delinquency part.

So there's a delinquency, there's additional money that's supposed to be coming into the county that's for whatever reason not coming in.

And then what does that do with the greater property tax bills that have to go through the treasurer's office?

Like if there's a delinquency for one bill that would affect what's owed in the next bill if it's not fully satisfied.

So how does that work together with the whole system?

So you so is the question if I want to make sure I understand it correctly.

If there's a delinquency from let's just say two cycles ago that isn't paid, and how is that affect the current um tax bill situation?

So my understanding is the tax bill that would be issued would still be the same.

Those taxes would be delinquent.

There'd be a tax sale on the delinquent taxes.

Um I don't think there's been a tax sale.

I think the legislature's pushed the tax sale out a couple years.

Um there's the next tax sale, I think, is scheduled for December.

Um so if there are outstanding taxes out there, um, we're still following our general process for those.

Now when the new tax bill comes out, oftentimes if a tax buyer had purchased those, they may also pay the other taxes going forward, uh, subsequent taxes uh to make sure that they don't lose their interest.

So I hope that answered your question, but I'm not sure if I did.

It sounds like the delinquencies remain kind of on the books, but that the new tax bill doesn't include the new plus the link, so it's not then gonna be a rolling forward issue because you have an issue with your tech system with Tyler and the delinquencies is not gonna affect as on a going forward basis with the new bills, which is really what I'm after.

Correct.

Okay, thank you.

Those that was my question.

Chairman Daly?

Just to follow up um Jim.

So you mentioned three four items, four to five items in reference to so those concerned will not delay the bill coming for your once you certainly you certify the number, then you send it to the treasury.

So those four items should not delay the issuance to they don't really have anything to do with the issuance of the bills.

Um the extension component does affect the bills, but we're not having significant issues with that.

We're just talking about the redemption part, which what happens after the bills have gone out and become delinquent.

Okay, thank you.

Commissioner Lowry.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh Jim, thank you.

And you know, my question is really not just geared to the clerk, but all of the different departments, you know, that play a vital role in this process.

We're hearing from each department what your specific role and duties are, which is great.

We're hearing from each department uh the current status relative to your work in this process, including the hurdles that you're still being faced with.

What we, and I think even more importantly, uh the residents of Cook County need to start hearing.

What are the solutions and the strategies so that we're not having the same conversation next year?

That's the focus, and that's my charge to all of you through this working group.

Thank you.

Anything further?

Commissioner Morris, Kevin Morsen.

Then Commissioner Trevor.

I I just think it's important uh put on the floor.

You know, it's my understanding that it was defects impacting the clerk's office as well as the treasurer's office that in huge part led to uh why bills went out uh late uh last go around.

And I just think uh Clerk Gordon deserves our appreciation for being willing uh to work with our Bureau of Technology to get those defects addressed.

Uh and there was easy communication.

You know, a lot of folks don't understand that our separately elected offices, you know, unlike a lot of large counties around the nation, uh, they have one technology department.

Separately elected don't get to have their own independent technology departments, and so that means communications between our separately elected technology departments and Cook County's Bureau of Technology is crucial.

So uh Monica Gordon uh deserves uh a lot of our thanks for helping get getting those defects resolved.

But uh as uh Commissioner Anaya uh mentioned, uh the assessor, you know, just making sure that we are being kept up to date uh is really important.

That transparency, making sure we're able to share that information with our municipalities, school boards, library boards is really important.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Commissioner Trevor.

Thank you, Chair.

Um I just uh sort of wanted to uh follow up on Commissioner Lowry's uh line of reasoning.

So I'm looking at this timeline of uh uh 16 to 21 days.

Uh and uh it seems that most of the defects that would affect this were resolved in the last cycle.

Am I c I'm hearing this sort of phrased in different ways?

Is that am I correct in that assumption?

Yes.

The only defects remaining and extensions, I believe, are just about four, and they're not critical to us being able to perform our function.

Given that, um, is there anything going on upstream?

Uh any changes upstream in this whole process that could possibly um uh create any new defects that that went undetect undetected before.

Is there are there any changes in the process upstream that that you can foresee as being a risk to this timeline?

Um no, not in the property tax bill issuance timeline.

Um we don't foresee any changes occurring that would affect our uh our extensions.

So basically, if you get the data that you are expecting, you you don't see any risk in being able to turn this over in 16 to 21 days.

Correct.

Great.

Thank you.

And I I think that we were always working on trying to get closer to 15 days from the the IDOR.

And it was quite a bit longer last time.

But those issues are, as far as you are concerned, resolved so as to not replicate that particular delay, correct?

Correct.

Okay.

Chair.

They're being okay.

Last question.

Yeah, just one more.

So um I just talked to the assessor's office about um the timeline and you know your obligations to release the rates.

How long how will that affect the timeline for the second installment?

I I don't think there's going to be any significant delays and uh the timeline that we would ordinarily be meeting, so I think it should it shouldn't affect it at all.

We should be and what can you remind me what the timeline is?

It's like 16 to 21 days.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

All right, thank you.

Very much appreciate it.

Thank you.

And uh the treasurer's office will be our last presenter.

Um I do believe that the treasurer was called away.

So we'll have other representatives.

Welcome.

Good to see you.

Justin.

Nice to see you.

All right.

Please proceed.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

Good afternoon.

David Burns, Chief of Staff for the Treasurer's Office.

I will share brief presentation here.

And I uh Treasure Pepis could not be here due to scheduling conflict.

I will read the letter that she sent to the commissioners yesterday uh into the record as part of my testimony.

Dear Chairman Britton, in advance of your June 10 legislation and intergovernmental relations committee meeting, we must be clear about the history of property tax due dates in Cook County and the steps required to mail bills.

My office stands ready, willing, and able to mail the latest installment tax bills, but we cannot do so without the assessor, board of review, Illinois Department of Revenue, and Clerk data.

To discuss future tax due dates and timely distributions, the committee must address the ongoing failures of the integrated property tax system project and our reliance on Tyler Technologies Incorporated.

Awarded in 2015 for nearly th 30 million dollars, Tyler's contract stipulated a 54-month implementation to replace the mainframe by 2020.

Instead, the system did not go live until November 14, 2025, more than a decade after approval.

Warning signs were evident early.

Both former CIO Simona Rollinson in 2017 and President Preckwinkle in 2019 issued written warnings to Tyler regarding missing resources and suggested contract termination.

To date, Treasure Pappas has written 38 letters to the board documenting the vendor shortcomings.

I just want to point out that this is exactly what I asked not to have done, which was to go back in time and to rehash everything that I already know about, including most of the people in this room.

I think what we want to know is where we are now and how it's going to be delayed.

I don't think I read that letter.

It it is all past looking.

I want forward looking.

So summarize whatever you wish to summarize, but then give us the answers that I think these taxing bodies deserve.

So do you want me to summarize what else you have to say?

But I don't think reading that letter is productive.

Okay.

These delays have caused immense financial strain.

In late 2025, Tyler's incomplete data transfer delayed the 2024 second installment mailing, leaving thousands of bills unresolved that are still unresolved.

Once collections began, undetected system defects blocked the distribution of funds to local tax and districts.

To prevent severe financial peril, my office had to bypass Tyler system in December 2025 to manually release more than 4.5 billion directly to those districts.

Further system defects halted taxpayer refunds for months until my IT team built a custom AI interface workaround to push the data through.

While Tyler has routinely missed deadlines and failed to deliver critical distribution data, future stability is possible.

The board must insist that Tyler, number one, expedite the resolution of all remaining system defects, two complete deprioritized modules, including the clerk's prior year processing and treasurer's annual tax sale, three, roll out vital reports and data files such as distribution details for taxing districts, four finalized data set configurations to streamline responses to taxpayer inquiries.

With that, I'd be happy to ask answer any questions.

Commissioner McCaskill.

Thank you, Chair.

Again, mine goes back to accountability.

So we know that we know how the process works.

What I'm asking specifically is how long, in your estimation, do you believe it will be before refund checks are actually sent to the municipalities in various governments?

Are you referring to refund checks or the regular scheduled tax distribution?

Regular tax distribution.

Okay, because that's two different things.

Yeah, okay.

Start with that one.

We have we have a total of perhaps foreshadowing a question from Commissioner Dagnan.

We still have 214 current defects within the system, some of which are impacting the distributions, including our ability to give detailed distribution data at the individual tax level and at the uh fund level to the agencies.

That data we are reliant upon Tyler to deliver to us.

So those 214 errors are still on Tyler.

Correct.

Commissioner, can I interrupt you just for a second?

We have the Tyler representative.

214 sounds like a lot.

Would you like to address that issue so we have a clear understanding as to what exactly we're dealing with?

With your with leave, Commissioner, thank you.

Leave.

Good afternoon, Mark Hawkins from Tyler.

So regarding the Treasurer's office and what they're doing today.

So currently today, um, obviously the bills went out late last year, but they did start distributing.

They have been distributing, they have everything in the system today to be able to distribute the funds and have been doing that.

Um the uh transparency as far as the reporting goes, we've been working collaboratively with the folks in the treasurer's office to provide the data.

So the data exists in the Tyler system.

Uh we have to export it in a way that they can pull it into their tool uh to provide to the agencies to uh uh to show that data.

So we've been working with them really closely on that.

The the format of the data, how the data has to be grouped together.

Um the kind of the details on how that has to work are is pretty complex, and we've been working back and forth with their team uh to provide that.

So just this morning I know they loaded it into their system, they're reviewing that.

Um, you know, so it you know, once they approve it, obviously it'll it will become available.

But that that work has been done and is being done.

Um on the defect count, um again, there's nothing that stops them from doing distributions today.

Uh there the defects are either older, a lot of the defects right now haven't been cleaned up from uh past defects that might be on uh lower environments, might not be related to distributions.

So we'll work with them to continue to work with them on the actual count and what's needed, but on a day-to-day basis, we're working through the critical items, we're collaborating with the team at the treasurer's office to make sure that they're not blocked and that they can do all the functions that they need to do.

Is the Treasurer's Office in agreement with the representative Tyler that the 214 defects do not prevent the the bills from going out?

There are other issues that need to be cleaned up as we go forward.

There are still, Chairman, 2,055 tax bills that were supposed to be mailed with the 1.8 million last November that have not been sent out.

When it comes to the second installment, if everything is according to plan and we don't encounter any additional defects, it will take the treasurer's office approximately 22 days from the time we receive the file from the clerk to test it, print, and mail the property tax bills.

But the unknown is the system.

And if there are still a remaining 2500 tax bills from seven months ago that haven't gone out, it begs the question: what are we going to entail?

What are we going to encounter in uh September or in August when we would get that file from the clerk's office?

Can you address that?

Just yeah, a couple of responses to that.

First, um I agree with the number that that David just noted on last year's tax bills.

Of the 1.8 million, there are still 2500 that have not been sent out.

Most of the issues related to those are not system functional issues, they're data issues.

And so last year was a little bit unique in the fact that the first installment was calculated and distributed on the mainframe, and then second installment was calculated and distributed on Tyler.

And when we did that, we ran into some items on how that distribution happened in the mainframe, how the calculations worked in the mainframe that were unknown both to the business side and to Tyler that we had to work through, and that caused some of the delays on some of those uh bills.

But we are down to a very small number.

And as we go into this year's second installment calculation, it will be different in the fact that the first installment calculation and all the distributions have been done through the Tyler system.

And so when we get to the second installment calculation, some of those data anomalies and issues that came from conversion and timing of payment uh entry uh won't be there this year.

The 2500 bills that have not gone out, is the defect the same or is there 2500 different defects that there's not 2500 defects, there may be like six or seven different data scenarios related to those 2500.

And I've had conversations with Commissioner Trevor, who knows a lot more about this, excuse me, Dr.

Trevor, than I do, who believes that those types of uh issues can be resolved rather quickly.

Do you disagree?

I I don't disagree.

We're working through them.

There's some complexity to them that have taken a little bit of time while working on other items as well, but they're a priority now.

We're going to get those uh out with in collaboration with the Treasurer's Office.

Um but again, um the process this year will be a little bit different since we're going, you know, the both installments have been calculated and will be distributed on the Tyler system.

All right.

I I'm sorry, I interrupted Commissioner McCaskill.

No, we are asking the same question.

So that goes back to my point about accountability.

So with regard to Tyler, how many actual people, physical bodies, staff, understanding the crisis or the criticness of this particular issue, how many Tyler workers are actually here taking care of this?

Because we're seeing 214 issues, he's saying it's really not that big of an issue, is not preventing you, but we're hearing both sides.

So to get completely away from that and actually take care of it, how many people are actually working on this project?

Yeah, so from a Tyler perspective, it does it does vary a little bit because our development team uh in in some depending upon how many uh issues they have on the development side they're working on, uh that may be a little bit flexible.

But generally speaking, we have had about 30 to 35 Tyler folks working specifically on Cook County.

All right.

And just so we're clear for anyone who wishes to speak, public comment is closed on this committee.

There will be no recognizing the public at this time.

There will be no recognizing the public.

The speaker will speaker will suspend.

I'm gonna warn you one more time.

The speaker will suspend.

And you're gonna speak at the next meeting, not this one.

All right.

Did you did you get your answer, Commissioner McCaskill?

Yeah, but uh let us know from a board perspective what else that we need to be doing on our end, because it to say that it started in 2015 and we're in 2026 and we're still talking about this?

Commissioner is a little scary.

The Tyler resources that we have right now to triage these defects, it's the same three or four resources that are trying to resolve the distribution issues, the excluded property tax bill issues, refund issues, bankruptcies and municipal acquisitions, and also the tax sell module that has yet to go live as well.

So there has been a sort of a whack-a-mole of the defects as as well, where ideally you would want them all to be treated and resolved as quickly as possible independently without having to rely on the same resource to to do each facet of it.

And are these the same resources being used across all of the departments?

So my because it it just definitely I agree with Dr.

Trevor, it simply should not take this long.

And there's an accountability standard because while we're waiting for Tyler to figure out whatever it's missing, uh the Treasurer's office dollars are gaining interest.

So who collects that interest?

Does it go back to the municipality or does it go back to the uh resident who is losing money or having uh issues happening in their lives in their daily day-to-day living, uh, we are simply disrupting the quality of life for the two questions there.

I will answer the first one.

Regarding the interest, any interest that is accrued of money in the bank is distributed to the tax and bodies.

They're the recipients of that interest.

And what about the residents?

I know it goes to the municipalities.

The residents have no out-of-pocket expense because the delay doesn't increase their taxes.

They just pay it later than they would have paid it.

No, my question, well, with regard to those that have received their taxes late, their bills late.

Let me say it properly.

They have received the December bill late.

They received the second bill late.

So now we're waiting for a third bill.

So if they don't pay, are they going to receive those penalties?

No.

They they're not going to be able to do that.

So we're saying for the records absolutely no penalties for people that pay late.

In accordance with state law, when we mail out a property tax bill to one of those excluded property owners, they will have a minimum of 30 days to pay interest free.

So on time without the case.

But if they don't pay it within 30 days, because now we're talking about a third bill.

So some of them haven't even caught up with the second bill or the first bill.

We haven't even mailed out the second bills on the excluded.

So that's where it is.

We are the intention is to stagger those tax bills so as to not adversely impact the property owners.

So the first bills have gone out for roughly 6,000 of the originally excluded property tax bills from November, still waiting on another 2,500 to be sent.

Those 6,000 have been sent.

We haven't mailed the first installment of 2025 for those just yet.

We will stagger that accordingly so they aren't piling on top of each other, where a property owner would unreasonably get three tax bills on three consecutive months.

That's not the intention of our office.

And of those 214, maybe this is for Tyler, but of those 214 issues that are still remaining with regard to errors in the system, what is the actual timeline?

We should have some type of projection as to when those are going to be resolved.

Yeah.

So we're working with we work on a daily basis and on a weekly basis with the teams to prioritize defects, to prioritize where they're at.

Like I said, and that that number is not indicative of what is actually out there because if you if you take out the ones that are probably stale old and other environments, things like that, it's a much smaller number.

Sorry, what's the timeline on the number that still exists that need to be addressed?

So we're we're working, these these things happen on a continual basis.

So if they run into an issue today, that you know, so it's not it's not a a stagnant number necessarily.

So again, though, we're committed to and we're working with those the office, and as if we talk about like the second installment bill for this year, um, there's nothing right now, there's no issues that will prevent them from uh issuing a second installment bill.

Okay.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

It's gonna be Commissioner Scott, Trevor, and Daly in that order.

And then Vasquez and then Kevin Morrison, and then we'll just get to everybody.

Okay, go ahead.

Go ahead.

Commissioner Scott.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh I still would like Tyler to give an answer.

And I I do understand that they are it's a moving target and they continue to roll.

But at some point there has to be an answer six months.

And I don't think we're gonna we're gonna try to hold you to it, but you haven't been held for as long as so if you could be a little bit more direct as it relates to when and a timeline, that will be greatly appreciated.

And I don't I don't want you to tell me about the rolling target.

I'd like for you to give me an answer or tell me that you can't give me an answer.

Yeah, I'll I will get back to you on that Mr.

Chair, please make sure that you have him and Tyler give us an answer within a week.

Please we cannot continue for you to say that there is a rolling target and we have 214.

That is not an acceptable answer.

Please get through the chair and answer.

So, Mark, I would like an answer in seven days.

And if it we do not receive it, we'll have another conversation.

Um, secondly, um as it relates to the the 225 property tax bills that are outstanding.

So I some of the work was done on the mainframe, some of it was done with Tyler.

If I'm not mistaken, that the mainframe was was shut off, correct?

All right.

There have been other separately elected offices that have not shut off that mainframe so that they can continue to work.

Why was this the mainframe shut off with you guys so that there is not a a catch-all that will allow for these bills to get out?

The 2024 second installment, none of that data was ported into the mainframe, Commissioner.

So the 2500 tax bills that we're talking about that were excluded, there'd be no alternative, no contingency to get those out in the mainframe.

That was that was a a decision that was that was made outside of our sort of jurisdiction or further view.

We don't rely on the mainframe as much as the clerk does for the prior year taxes.

And the mainframe is is still soldering on for the clerk office functionality.

Our office has been relatively, you know, uh cut it cut the cord with the mainframe.

Got it.

Even though we still have access to it.

And actually, with Tom Lynch coming up, if you want to get a little more fluid uh, I will but response, okay.

But when we get it to 24, we understand it is not working correctly, we cut it off.

I I'd like to know from either you or Tom Lynch the conversation in why we didn't cut it back on in 25 or at least 26, knowing that that we have not gotten what we need from Tyler so that we can get and be responsive to the taxpayers in the taxing bodies.

Uh I I'd like to know from from either one of you why we didn't have a conversation about the mainframe and making sure that that information was poured into the mainframe so that we can get those bills out.

You, Tom, anybody?

Tom, you want to take that first?

Sure thing.

Uh thank you, Commissioner, for the question.

Tom Lynch, uh Chief Information Officer.

Uh so I think you asked two different questions.

I want to answer each of them separately.

So uh your first question about the status of the mainframe.

So at this point right now, the mainframe is still active.

Uh it's our host is in SONO, it's the company that provides it, and that's contract is scheduled to end on July 31st of this year, at which point that system will be uh uh just turned off essentially.

Uh at this stage, uh most of the elected offices are not referencing the mainframe at all, which I think you alluded to.

Um the the that number has steadily dropped during the previous years.

At this point, all offices are off the mainframe except for the county clerk's office using it for reference, as we've heard in this in this hearing.

Um no office is using it for transactions at this point.

It's just used for reference.

The second question you'd asked about why not keep both systems in parallel, it is a trickier question, but I'll try to answer it as best I can.

Uh when the assessor's office shifted to Tyler, making it its system of reference uh record, as we talked about with the assessor's office earlier, that was back in 2021.

For a couple of years, they maintained in both systems so that the other property offices could continue to function out of the mainframe environment.

The assessor made a decision, uh this is now three years ago now, to not continue to do the parallel systems, that they would only go into Tyler at that point, their system of record, which meant that effectively the clerk and the treasurer had to also go to Tyler so that it synced up because it was a unified system.

So that's where we are today.

And once you make a change at that magnitude to a system like that, you can't reverse it.

You can't go back.

There's too many changes in how the those systems work, how they make calculations, rounding, even the fact that the offices have disparate silos of data that are now unified, that you you you really have to make a decision and decide to go forward, which is what the county did.

Understood.

Um as it relates to the Tyler system and the mainframe.

Bigger question.

So I I know that we're continuing to um the contract that we have with the mainframe and it it's go it go goes away um July.

We're continuing to to pay Tyler.

We we do not have a delivered product.

Why?

Yeah, why why why?

Like I'm I am I am thoroughly confused about the the mainframe and not being not having it want to deliver product that is several years, even prior to me taking this board.

Um just explain to me why we're continuing to pay and and why we're in this situation.

So all payments for Tyler for the project are based on milestone acceptances from the property offices.

In other words, Tyler can't bill us and the county can't pay them until the offices agree that the functionality is delivered and and working.

Now there are defects associated with that, as you've heard from several of the of the offices.

I'm not saying that the system is perfect in in every way, but it is working and those offices are using it.

So we paid Tyler for the functions that are available in production that the offices are using.

So we're not paying the defects, we're not paying for those defects is correct.

There's a holdback.

There's a holdback of the defects.

And then over the course of the years in which we were trying to make it fully functional functionable, we were only paying milestones to where they met they met what they needed to meet, is what you're telling me.

Yes, sir.

That's correct.

At this point, right now, we have not paid the original $29 million that was contracted for this project in 2014.

Okay.

Last question for you guys.

Out of the 2,500 remaining bills, right?

1.8 got out, 2,500 are left.

How come manually that can be done in your office?

Because it's not a it's not it's not a small number, but it's not a million out of 1.9 million pick.

That's a relatively small number.

Why couldn't we manually try to get those out?

The the data for the 2024 property tax year would have been contingent upon, just like we're going to right now.

The assessed value determined by the assessor's office, the tax rates by the clerk's office, ultimately that data flows down and is calculated for us to produce a property tax bill.

If there are flaws in that property tax bill in the Tyler system, we don't know what we don't know, meaning what is causing, what is the root cause of why that tax bill can't be calculated, whereas the other greater 1.8 million could be calculated within the system.

So for us to kind of speculate as to what tax liability exists for that PIN without the holistic data is irresponsible.

And within your office manually, Tyler, mainframe, calculator.

I think there's a uh my question is, Commissioner, responsibly or can you physically do it?

Because it sounds like you don't want to do it because you want to make sure you know why it's working that way.

But I think people want to get their bill.

And I think we want the money.

I'm just trying to figure out I'm condensing it down for you.

Is that am I right?

Well, Chairman Chairman, what you have to understand is getting out the tax bill is is one step.

That property owner paying that and receiving that payment, then, how exactly are we to distribute to the taxing bodies that money?

If that money, if the if the amount isn't in the system, then it's flawed.

How are we going to distribute those tax dollars for those 2557 tax bills to the agencies to the penny?

And that's the the holdup as well.

It's not just the semantics of getting out a physical tax bill with an amount on it.

It's making sure the entire process is fluid and that we reconcile to the penny.

But didn't the last time we're talking about the other.

So give me one second.

Okay.

I I hear you, right?

And I I I got that.

The problem is when we have the money, right?

We it's it's we have money somewhere.

We need to calculate that.

And and to the penny, I mean a little bit over, a little bit under.

Um for me, my preference would be to get them the bills and get them out, and then we come back and we calculate it when we have the ability to do that.

Which it exactly.

Which is which is why it is it is not just me, but probably my other colleagues are are a little bit baffled, right?

That we are holding money that that should be given out, right?

Whether we can calculate that manually, whether we can calculate that on Tyler and it's a little bit off.

It is I I believe that it is important, and everybody's and that's why so many people have come to talk about their disdain for what is going on as it relates to these independently separate separately elected offices.

I would just ask for for you for the the treasurer for to think about um the peril in which you put other folks in when we don't do that, right?

I understand to the penny.

I I got you, right?

I we I want to I wish we could have all of this done just like everybody else is, but I think it's an error to just hold that money.

That's just my opinion.

When you say it's an error to hold the money, we're not holding any money.

We're talking about the original billing.

You gotta okay.

Well, then the bill, I'm sorry.

Misspoke.

So that that's where if if there is some type of a uh a bridge loan in essence that the county, the the the president and and Jim wanted to work out where that revenue that is it is sort of being calculated on the back of the napkin could be given to the taxing districts.

That's one thing.

But the the bills themselves, I can show you defects and examples where a calculation that is that is on the bill shows one amount, and then the build amount that they expectation for the taxpayer to pay is off.

One bill that I looked at was calculating at 17,000, an on-time amount without interest is displayed on the bill for $20,000.

That is flawed, and that is a problem.

Agreed.

Again.

And we can agree to disagree, right?

Um and I don't want to beat a dead horse.

Tax take the bills need to go out, whether we calculate them manually, whether we calculate them with Tyler, mainframe, whatever the bills need to go out, and and that is that is an issue.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Commissioner?

Commissioner Trevor.

Thank you, Chair.

And I have a whole bunch of different questions, probably for different people here.

But um first of all, I the one thing that I want to um ask questions about first is I think that we're primarily concerned here today with the when are the bills and the next bills going out, and how how um much in jeopardy is our timeline.

And I believe that um uh you you stated something to the effect of the once you get the information that you need to calculate those bills, you have a timeline of 22 days to get them out.

Um do you see right now, and in terms of the defects that you see uh on Tyler, um do you have any concerns uh that once you get the information from the clerk, you won't be able you you see possible delays in getting those bills up beyond those 22 days?

To answer that question, Commissioner Trevor, is uh a little bit of a to use caution here.

Number one, at this point in time, using the Tyler system for a complete tax year to get out the second installment tax bills should not be a an impediment to us getting out the property tax bills.

However, last year, again, going by last year, and I hate to bring up history, but that's all we have to go on.

We still have those those tax bills that were that were withheld.

So while we don't anticipate at this point in time any impediments to us mailing out the tax bills after we receive the file from the clerk in 22 days, the uncertainty within the system is is that it's an uncertainty.

And and we're we're holding out hope that we won't encounter issues when we when we go into our testing, but we simply don't know at this point.

If everything goes well, and if there's even a small amount of of tax bills that we have to exclude from this, it will not deter us from getting out the property tax bills in accordance with the timeline that that my predecessors mentioned.

Okay.

Um the 2500 or so tax bills that are still not out.

I uh and this is a question possibly for both Tyler and you.

Um there are roughly six or seven causes for these 2500 bills, and I don't want to get too much into the technical details, but I'm wondering if if maybe you could tell us a little bit more about those six or seven clauses as well as a little information on just what these 2500 properties are.

Are they all commercial properties?

Are they residential properties?

Are they um evenly distributed through the county or randomly distributed through the county county, or are they um specific to let's say particular townships or answer that?

Um as far as there they're not geographically located in a specific place or anything like that.

They're they're pretty um uh dispersed throughout the county as far as where those where those uh uh pins are.

Um as far as some of the issues that we're running into, um again, as I mentioned before, it's really around data, not uh code or calculations.

Um so when we so in the first installment, I mentioned that was done in the mainframe.

So um also whenever we did the cutover, there were payments being loaded in both the mainframe and in Tyler.

So we do have some instances where uh payments were maybe loaded in the mainframe, and that's being compared to what was in Tyler, and they're not in Tyler yet, so we're working through those.

Uh we have some instances where uh uh non-sufficient funds came back and we're in one system and not the other, since there was kind of this dual entry.

And so we're working through those as well.

So that's one of the items is those payments and NSFs, making sure that those match what was expected and comparing them to what was kind of entered in like a dual scenario there.

And then another one is around when the second installment calculation actually impacts the first installment.

So that happens on a portion of the uh of the pins.

And in those cases, again, because it was done in two different systems, there's some complexity around that we're working through with uh the treasurer's office so uh and this is uh this is a question also for the clerk if they're representing uh representative is still here.

Um is the clerk manually entering some you you mentioned that they're still using the mainframe.

Are they manually entering some of this information?

Is that perhaps some of the issues that are causing some of the data issues that you're seeing in Tyler If the clerk doesn't want to answer that, I think I can answer that.

If I understand what you are asking, so um the clerk's role in the actual um tax bill is all around the extension, which is all being done in Tyler.

I know they talked earlier about redemptions, but that doesn't impact the tax bill at all.

Um changing the subject a little bit, and I think this gets back to the treasurer's way.

We've heard a lot of uh comments today from people in public comments about some of the uh consequences of the our problems on um some of the local taxing bodies.

Uh several of them have reported disparities between what they've received and what they were expected to receive in some cases, receiving more, in some cases receiving significantly less.

Um is that uh uh are the defects uh that we're seeing in the Tyler system at all impacting that, and if so, how and when can we um expect those issues to be resolved?

Commissioner, that goes back to the reconciliation issues with the property tax detail to make sure that whatever we have distributed to this point from the system is reconciled and ties back to what the taxing districts expect to receive.

We we know that there are some discrepancies there where taxing districts appear to be over or underfunded, but that level of detail has to be flushed out and given to us by Tyler so that we know we can make the necessary adjustments to make each one of the taxing districts whole.

To that point, we don't have that data.

If we do did have that data that reconciled, we could do that collection adjustment and get that money um resolved to the taxing districts that may be impacted by it.

Is there I know we're not working on the mainframe any more an e more, but is there any plan Bra because we're not talking about thousands of taxing bodies, we're talking about hundreds of taxing bodies.

Uh and it seems to me that there could possibly be a way to um do uh uh I want to say a data dump out of the Tyler system uh to try and look at this manually to reconcile.

Is that at all possible?

The the mainframe is is not an option because the the way that property taxes were distributed out of the mainframe was at the taxing district level, and the way that they are distributed within Tyler is at the fund level.

So a taxing district could have any number of different funds, and that breakout needs to tie back first.

The mainframe porting the data into into the mainframe at this point would not yield a solution to the data issue.

We have sought um multiple times and we've gone through different iterations of exactly what you're saying, Commissioner Trevor, is a a dump of data from the uh from the Tyler system that we could use to calculate, but we have not reconciled to date.

So it's back to the drawing board.

So as Mark mentioned, there is a file that has been turned over to the Treasurer's office, I believe this morning or yesterday, that we're in the process of running that through our testing to see if we can reconcile to what was already distributed.

Okay.

So it continues to be iterative.

Yeah.

And although I uh it seems to me that that's a calculation that you wouldn't necessarily need the mainframe to do.

Because again, you're not you're dealing with millions of pins, you're dealing with hundreds of taxing bodies.

Correct.

We're we're not relying on on mainframe functionality for that.

Um similar to that, could you talk a little bit about the relationship with between these defects and the ability to issue refunds?

Because I've heard a lot from constituents about the fact that they've they're they've been told they are entitled to refunds but haven't been able to get them.

And in some cases it's it's um result, particularly with seniors who have overpaid their taxes, resulting in some dire issues.

Yeah, there there have been instances or or certain scenarios that have prevented us from being able to refund um property ty property tax owners if they meet that criteria.

What we did as as a as a workaround was take the list of uh of pins that were due refunds and try to work those through.

We we use some AI code in order to determine if they don't meet this criteria, we should not encounter a defect with the Tyler system, and we could push that data into Tyler.

That's what we were able to use to get out a large group of refunds over the end of April and and through the month of May.

That doesn't resolve every single issue or defect within the refund system that still prevent us from prevents us from getting out certain types of refunds.

But we have we have done the best that we can as a workaround to identify which refunds can flow through without defects and which ones do we still need to to fix with with Tyler's help.

A couple more questions.

Just one last one about the 2500 properties.

Are the property owners aware that they're caught in this?

In November we sent a letter to all 8,500 property owners that according to the name and address that we have on file, that their tax bill would be delayed and we would send it out when it is ready.

So we did send out communication to them.

And as we have been whittling that down, we've gotten about 6,000 out between that that that time and now we have sent out the tax bills in a letter with it as well.

So they are they're aware that they're okay.

I think that pretty much answers all of my questions.

Thank you.

Chairman Daly.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

So I want to go back to Michael's uh Commissioner Scott's issue.

And I think we as a board and the taxing districts would like to be in this would retire.

So there are there six issues or a hundred and I heard two, two or three issues.

You indicated that as of now there's some fault to I thought you used a hundred, and then Tyler used a different number.

Of defects?

Yes.

Right now with the Treasurer's office, it's 214.

And then Tyler's issue when they mentioned they were said they said something to you this morning.

I thought in reference I thought how many.

I didn't mention a number.

You did or didn't have to be.

I did not mention a number, no.

I thought you Okay.

Mark mentioned that with the excluded property tax bills, there's between six or seven different categories for those rights.

So I knew there was a number.

Yeah, right.

So I knew there was a so that issue is being addressed internally with you, correct?

And that is the reporting back that Mike Commissioner Scott has asked for.

Last last week, uh, for instance, uh Chairman Daly, we had a um uh a dump of 508 property tax bills for us to retest that were from the excluded list.

We ran those through our testing and we had to return them back to Tyler because those were defective.

So this is a again, it's an iterative process.

It's make an attempt, give us a file, test it, but turn it back over.

But you also in the and hopeful uh we assume I know that the chair will be send a copy of that that response from Tyler to all members.

But also uh you indicated that as of now, seeing no issues, you expect the ta property tax bills to be on time.

Correct.

Correct.

We're s we're still at the at the early stage.

Once the assessor's office and the board of review has completed their appeals and they send it to the Illinois Department of Revenue, that's when the work of the clerk and the and the treasurer really gets started.

And Tam, uh to you, to one follow-up.

Um I know we were all we're off the mainframe as of July.

And is what is the number one reason that we weren't able to continue with a lack of people being able to use the system?

I think the main driver was cost, but also support.

So uh the mainframe being available costs the county roughly seven million dollars a year.

And whether one office uses it or all offices use it, it was still going to cost the county seven million dollars a year to have it available.

So in addition to that, the hardware itself was out of support.

It was so old that IBM moved to what's called a best effort basis, meaning that if any parts broke, we'd have to scour the country to try to find a part that may w work or have it machined to fit because it's that old.

Right and that was one that's probably one of the main issues.

Yeah that they are not working for us anymore.

So I just wanted to have clarified thank you.

Thank you Chairman Commissioner Vasquez and I'll try I will urge everybody to be as as succinct as possible.

Thank you.

Commissioner Vasquez Thank you Chair and I do just have one question.

And I'm not sure if this was already addressed but I just wanted to see if you could provide some detail around the AI interface that was sort of the work around that you utilized per the letter from the treasurer what data was fed into that what is that system.

So we we we had a list of all the properties that that are owed a refund and what we were able to do was decipher or or break down which of them were basically free and clear of uh defects within the Tyler system so that we could proceed with that group as opposed to ones that we can't knowing that we would hit a blocker within the system.

So the the AI code that we used identified the ones that were that were able to be refunded so that we could put those into the system to produce a check to mail to a property taxpayer while the other the remaining ones are are kind of in limbo awaiting some type of a defect resolution whether it's functionality or or a data defect thank you and thank you for holding yourself to one question.

I appreciate it.

Commissioner Kevin Morsen then Commissioner Degnan then Commissioner Stamps Thank you.

So um my question in terms I think you said around uh 2500 still have not been sent out um have we and then I did you say like six thousand have been able to be sent out thus far that hadn't been there's eighty five hundred six thousand twenty five hundred left okay so 2.5K still are we communicating with those individuals who have not received those two installments or I guess that 2.5K still hasn't received either is that correct?

That's correct.

And is your office communicating with them and giving them some clarity of what to anticipate of when they will be received and that they're now going to be all stacked one upon another we've we've sent original communication a letter out to each one of those owners as far as when they they would be mailed out that's an unknown at this point as as well don't know when it's when it's going to be it's already June you would think that they would have been resolved but here we are so it and again to the furthest extent possible we are going to space them out so they are not stacked up against each other so that taxpayer is not seeing three bills on three consecutive months to pay.

Okay.

And your communication to the 2.5000 that haven't received either what did you share with them?

That there was defects that were causing the accurate calculation of their property tax bill and that we would mail the tax bill out once those were fixed.

Okay and of the you know eight thousand five hundred and twenty five I think uh the chairman said how much property tax revenue has still yet to be sent to the county to distribute from those for the 2500 left right well I I guess the we sent out 1,000 so it's only 2500 that haven't gone out.

2500 haven't gone out but didn't when did the six thousand go out?

At various points in February in May in April Okay.

So the May ones we probably still haven't received so uh in total how much is still out there that that we are anticipating and need to be needs to be received.

Commissioner Morrison with all due respect this goes back to Commissioner Scott's question if we don't know how to calculate those those bills we don't know the amount of the outstanding liability I don't want to say that it is 2500 or 2.1 million dollars without having that detail it very well could be 100,000 it could be a million dollars.

I I can't with the certainty calculate those tax bills outside of the system or know what the total liability is for them.

But let's keep in mind 2500 out of 1.9 million pins is am I right?

Yes.

It's not a lot so and unless it's a huge company uh that pays a ton of money in taxes it's it's probably not a huge amount of money to the taxing bodies uh but obviously we don't know for sure all right um and anything further yes uh last it was mentioned that there you know some tax bodies receive more than anticipated or less than ultimately everyone's gonna be made whole I I take it you're keeping records of what has been dispersed so that could be cleared up in the future yes yeah we we we know what was distributed and when and what is still left out uh do we have a breakdown for all the separate taxing bodies of what is still due because there are still many that are you know coming to our offices sharing that they're still waiting their full allotment I can tell you what the delinquent amounts are by tax year but again going back to the distribution we're distributing both 2024

Yes.

Yeah, we we we know what was distributed and when.

And what is still left out?

Uh do you have a breakdown for all the separate taxing bodies of what is still due?

Because there are still many that are you know coming to our offices sharing that they're still waiting their full allowment.

I can tell you what the delinquent amounts are by tax year, but again, going back to the distribution, we're distributing both 2024 second installment property tax payments that came into our office.

We distributed 2025 first installment monies.

Those amounts, though, are commingled within the Tyler system.

If I send out to a library district 750,000, we do not have the detail at the agency level to determine how much of that 750,000 was from 2024 or 2025, or even a prior year from an open item bill that was paid.

That's the level of detail that we're seeking Tyler to give us so that we can not only have it for ourselves, but also put it on our taxing agency extranet so that it's visible and transparent to the agencies themselves.

And my last question.

You mentioned that you receive a file from Tyler to test, and then you recognize a number of defects.

Now, when you are sending that back to Tyler, are you being as communicative as possible of what dife defects you are identifying?

Absolutely.

Okay.

And Commissioner, for our representative at Tyler, is that their understanding as well?

Yeah, I would say the the level of clerk cla collaboration between the treasurer's office resources and the Tyler resources is very high right now.

Um the other thing I just want to note is that when we we talk a lot about defects, a lot of times that that word can mean a lot of things.

Most of the defects that we that we're talking about, or when we say defects are really data-related items, not source code changes.

Thank you.

Commissioner Degnan.

Thank you, Chair.

And Commissioner Stamps is going to finish, then we're done.

Okay.

So I just was looking through the Illinois property tax code.

A lot of the um language in there has to do with the way things are valued.

But it's pretty clear that once a property is assessed and a value is attached to a property that the treasurer's office then has to go through the iteration of you know the equalization, and you send out the bill that's given to you.

So do you have authority within the property tax code to change what that bill should be because we're going through this Tyler situation right now, or are you just you have to get that that dollar value right by the state law, right?

Correct.

Correct.

Okay.

It it's called the assessment ladder.

So the assessor's office is not a discretion than to to say I'm giving you an estimate.

Correct.

Correct.

Because I think if you are allowed to give an estimate, then that would give you a lot more flexibility.

But it looks like from what I'm seeing on the Illinois property tax code, you're not allowed to do that.

No.

Okay.

So I think we all know that predictability is really important and that right now we are uh projecting that bills will be two months late.

So looking forward into the next taxing installment cycle, do you have any idea whether or not these bills would continue to be late or whether or not given where we're at now, that that cycle will kind of then kind of get more on a routine regular basis.

It all again, the treasurer's office is downstream as far as the property tax bill cycle.

I will not hold you to this.

I'm just saying because we have a lot of people here that they're correct.

And people are listening.

I have SSAs that are in Chicago.

And so for predictability, I know that I'm not putting you on, it's not, I know you are the last very last caboose of this system, but seeing what you are seeing now from the Tyler system.

There's there's there's a couple things that I think people want in property taxes.

That's the predictability as far as their own amount that they're gonna pay and also when they're gonna pay it.

And I think in 2011, when when the tax bills were August the first, that triggered seven years of on-time billing.

COVID was a disruptor for for all of that.

Most recently, we've had a December 30th due date.

We've had a December 1st due date, then it was back to August 1st, and then last year it was December 15th.

If the assessor's office and the board of review begin their process and they they hear all the appeals according to the the timelines, and and the assessor did mention that they changed state state law, so appeals are now 30 business days instead of 20 business days.

That's still the great unknown.

I think we're on a better path to pre predictability for the second installment, and we should not see great disruptions.

But again, I if I could predict the future, I'd I'd be in a better place.

But I think that the structure is there to continue seeing more timely second installment property taxes.

Okay.

Then some of the SSAs in my district, and I met with DPD at the City of Chicago and your office to talk a little bit about the distributions that were incorrect because in part they went out through the old mainframe system, and then part of them also went out through the new Tyler system.

So given where we're at right now, how long until those are totally fixed?

That's that's the waiting on our office to work with Tyler to resolve the property tax detail, the distribution, so that we can do that collection adjustment.

And so it would that be a Tyler question?

Tyler?

Yeah.

Mark.

Sorry, what was the specific question?

Okay.

So there's a number of SSAs in Chicago, and they get flow-through property tax disbursements.

So in my distract, I can tell you one of them has received zero dollars, other of them have received way more money than they should have received, other SSAs have received way less than they should have received.

So at some point, that's got to all equal out.

Do you know when that's going to happen?

Because one in particular has received zero dollars, which then obviously they can't pay their bills if they receive no money from the county.

So a couple things.

I'm not aware of any issues with the distributions that would cause an SSA not to get any money.

We'll work with the with you know, obviously I'm assuming that information has been passed to the treasurer's office so they know which one to look for.

We'll work with them, figure out what's going on, if there's anything that needs to be adjusted.

There's a setting in the system or something.

So some of those SSAs, there's 58 of them.

Some of them have received too much money, so they're not going to pull that money back.

What they're going to do is just not give them as much money for the next cycle.

But for the ones who haven't gotten the money that they should have gotten, that means all of the small businesses in that SSA are not being paid money.

And they have such a small budget that it really makes them feel that they can't pay these small people.

They're trying to take out loans, you know, put money in one pocket to pay the other.

What I just need to know when those defects are going to be fixed to allow that money to do that.

Treasurer.

I I beg to differ.

Okay.

I need those SSAs paid.

I mean, for the ones that got too much money, they're not in a bad spot.

There's one that received zero dollars in February, March, April, uh, May, or June.

It's actually the North Center one.

It is, I think it's 16 or 18.

Um, being a commissioner, being able to distribute is one thing, being able to know that the exact dollar amount that is distributed, and we heard from the taxing districts today, we completely agree.

They should have that level of detail and confidence in the system as well.

Until that is provided.

Correct.

Yeah.

Correct.

Until that is provided to us, it's still a great unknown.

Okay.

The last question I have is for Tom Lynch.

So what yet ballpark, we were supposed to pay about 30 million dollars to the system.

Above and above above that number, how much is the county spent on IV and V and external support that we have paid in additional vendors to try to get us across the finish line?

Yeah, I I understand your question.

I don't have that handy, but I can certainly follow up and get you those examples.

If you have any idea, I'll just ballpark it.

It would be north of uh it's in the tens of millions, but I can't be more specific.

Money 25, 30.

Um, I think that's my best estimate.

Was is what?

I I said I think it's in the tens of millions, and I will follow up with get you the specific number.

I don't want to get it.

I just need you to kind of in this hearing, it's really important for me to know what tens of millions means.

Is it 10, 20, 30 ish.

I'm not like I said, I'm not gonna hold you to it.

I don't know what tens of millions of dollars means, but I need to know that right now.

My best estimate is approximately 20 million, but I'll get you the specific number.

Okay, thank you.

Those were all my questions.

Thank you.

All right.

So um I received a number of questions from the library coalition.

Uh we're gonna have to move on.

Um I know that probably some of those have not been uh answered, so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go put the the list that I got.

I'm gonna go through what I think has been answered, but I'm gonna err on the side of over inclusion, and I'm gonna include the ones which would include the dashboard, the reporting, the communication, um, you know, when do we expect the remaining funding?

I have one school district that's at 85 in my district, they need that money and they need to know when it's gonna come in.

Uh and it's a small district in Kenilworth, so I'm gonna communicate all of those things to make sure that I get those answers and I'll communicate it to you and the school districts and and and get you as much detail as I can.

Uh but I do think at this point we're gonna stick a pin in it.

And uh I want to thank the treasurer's office for being here.

I want to thank all of the the taxing bodies who are here, and we've certainly been listening.

I don't know if you're all that happy with our answers, but we're gonna do our best to continue this dialogue with all of you.

Mr.

Chairman, just one point that I know you've been how open you are.

Chairman Daly, I'll let you finish.

Just two, because I know uh the letter that um Michael you you're gonna receive your uh uh assent from uh Michael in reference to his questions.

I think as you know you've indicated, you're gonna let this go.

I just wanted to make sure that would be part of the issue for the question.

We will communicate all of that as well.

Okay, yes.

Let's talk about the bears.

That's a sore subject with me.

Uh so Arlington Heights is my district.

So I am going to uh now proceed to this is a receive and file, correct?

Receive and file.

The motion on the floor is to receive and file item 261230.

Uh I believe we still have to have a roll call.

Correct.

We ready?

Yes.

Commissioner Aguilar, your vote.

Aye.

Commissioner Naya.

Is app is Commissioner Naya in the room is absent.

Your vote is aye.

Aye.

Commissioner Britton.

Aye.

Thank you.

I'm taking it out of order.

Commissioner Daly.

Commissioner Daly, your vote is aye, sir.

Commissioner Dagnan.

Yeah, but your vote?

Aye.

Commissioner Gaynor is excused.

Absence.

Commissioner Laurie.

Aye.

Commissioner McCasco.

Is aye?

Thank you.

Commissioner Miller.

Commissioner Moore is absent.

Commissioner Marita Commissioner Marita.

Commissioner Marita is absent.

She did disconnect.

Thank you.

Commissioner Kevin Morrison.

Kevin Morrison, aye.

And can I be listed as an aye vote on the last item as well?

Thank you, sir.

Um Commissioner Sean Morrison is excused.

Commissioner Scott.

Aye.

Commissioner Scott is aye.

Commissioner Stamps.

Commissioner Stamps is aye.

Thank you.

Commissioner Trevor?

Aye.

Commissioner Vasquez.

Commissioner Marita.

Sorry to I.

Commissioner Marita is aye.

Chairman, I got you earlier.

Thank you.

Chairman, we have 14 and 3.

All right.

There being no further business before this committee, because I interrupted Commissioner Scott more than anybody else, he moves to adjourn.

Seconded by Vice Chair Lowry.

All those in favor signify by second.