Reports of Unfair Property Tax Assessments Highlight Need for Oversight

December 18th, 2017

Quick Read

The office of Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios has been the subject of recent troubling reports showing a lack of equity and accountability in local property tax assessments.
To meet basic oversight standards of other county assessors across the nation, Cook County must conduct internal studies reviewing the property tax assessment process.
Summary reports of these studies should be made publicly available in a timely manner.
The office should also publish summaries of how the property tax assessment process works, and how it plans to address current issues of inequity.
If the office does not take these steps, an Accountability Task Force or Oversight Board may be necessary to ensure improvements are implemented.

A recent string of troubling reports have emerged regarding the office of Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios, including alleged inequities in property value assessments across the city.

These findings have left many Cook County residents wondering whether they have been treated unfairly, and why these issues were allowed to compound over many years with little oversight or accountability.

For many years, it was unclear whether the office was even accountable to the Cook County Inspector General. In 2016, the Illinois Supreme Court finally concluded a years-long case on the topic, ruling that Assessor Berrios must cooperate with the Cook County Inspector General, and operate under his purview.

Still, there are not clear accountability or reporting standards for the troubled Assessor’s office, and local media outlets have largely taken on the responsibility of uncovering critical issues associated with the property tax assessment process.

In order to bring Cook County up to basic national standards, increased oversight of the assessor’s office and procedures is critical. Oversight measures should include:

Implementation of internal studies on equity within the assessment process
Publication of summary reports on these internal studies
Explanation of assessment methods for Cook County properties
Acknowledgement of current inequity issues, and establishment of plans to address them
Cooperation with the Inspector General’s oversight measures

If the Cook County Assessor’s office will not begin these processes independently, a Task Force or Oversight Board should be implemented to ensure that critical changes are made. Residents of Cook County expect fair and transparent assessments, and recent findings by prominent local news sources shed a troubling light on a process that has been opaque for many years. Basic movements toward a more transparent system would be a good first step to increase public trust in this important office.

Assessor’s Office Lacks Standard Internal Oversight
The Cook County Assessor’s office lacks basic internal controls that are standard for property assessors across the country. In a recent report by the Chicago Tribune, experts from the International Association of Assessing Officers describe studies that assessors should regularly perform to ensure property valuations are equitable.

Without these studies, it is more likely that properties will be overvalued or undervalued, leading to unfair tax levies for all property owners. According to a representative from Berrios’ office, the Cook County Assessor does not perform such studies.

Los Angeles County (CA), Harris County (TX), Maricopa County (AZ), and Cook County (IL) represent the four largest counties in the nation. Assessors from all of these counties, except Cook, publicly state that their offices conduct these studies to ensure sufficiently equitable property assessments. Additionally, they publish reports detailing their assessment processes.

Meanwhile, Assessor Berrios is currently appealing a Circuit Court decision that requires his office to release their assessment processes when requested under FOIA laws.

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Reports of Unfair Property Tax Assessments Highlight Need for Oversight

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