No accountability for bad tax assessing

Historically, when assessors "disregard the injunction of the law" and do not perform quadrennials, assessments lag behind too much and eventually a minority of property owners are bludgeoned with huge increases to make up for the new market values.

That is unconstitutional.

But now, property taxes are not on par with their fair cash values; which is the basis for assigning a fair tax assessment.

Values have plum- meted, but not assessments.

During the market value peak in 2005, Cuba Township, an unincorporated area of Barrington, saw varying levels of increase beyond 58 percent, and unlike Cook County, residents were not given 3 years to make it up.

Rather, they had to pay up immediately for that year.

Although it was not the property owners fault their values were low, only they were the ones to suffer for the assessor's breach of duty.

On Aug. 18, the deputy assessor of Cuba Township, testified at a hearing before the Property Tax Appeal Board of Illinois that no quadrennials were ever completed: "[t]he previous assessor had never done a quad in the whole time (11 years) I was with them, so properties just kind of went by equalization factor every year."

The tax rolls published as a legal notice by the chief county assessment office were in effect, a sham and disenfranchised the taxpayers of Lake County and the entire State of Illinois.

There is no downside and no accountability to taxing officials who embody a breach of trust by administering statute law in a one-way street of valuation increases, but are not penalized for disallowing "quid pro quo," thus transgressing the "fundamental law" of the Illinois constitution.

Will there ever be an accountability to these public servants?

There should be a statute that at least awards taxpayers reimbursement for the expenses incurred to appeal year after year.

Phillip Moll

Barrington