Township assessors brace as county offices close

One county's solution is now several townships' burden.

Northwest suburban townships are bracing for an influx of residents seeking help after the Cook County assessor's recent announcement that it will close five suburban offices, including the Rolling Meadows courthouse branch.

Monday, the Palatine Township board conceded it will likely have to find more than $40,000 in its already tight, $1.9 million budget to hire additional help.

After some number-crunching, Palatine Township Assessor Terry Kelly estimates his township will take on about a third of the property owners who would have previously gone to Rolling Meadows to appeal their property assessments or do other business with the assessor.

If he's correct, Palatine Township will serve nearly 14,000 walk-in residents when properties are reassessed in 2010 -- more than four times the number assisted in 2007. Cook County conducts its general reassessment every three years.

"We're going to get slammed," Kelly said. "There's a lot of traffic in here already."

In 2007, the Rolling Meadows branch served 32,581 total people, answered 25,622 phone calls and handled 7,850 appeals. Last year, 17,672 residents were served.

And suburban counties generally are seeing an increase in assessment appeals as the economy and home values sputter.

Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan said relocating taxpayer services staff from five suburban branches to the main office downtown will help address the 4 percent across-the-board spending reduction enacted last month by the Cook County Board.

Palatine Township Supervisor Linda Flemming said

she doesn't understand how much the county

will save, given its free rent in the courthouse.

Wheeling Township Assessor Dan Patlak agreed, saying employees at the satellite offices aren't being let go. Until he sees the shift in service, he's asking only for expanded hours for his part-time employees.

"I hope (Houlihan) will reconsider his decision and reopen the offices, which serve a vital need for suburban taxpayers," Patlak said.

Eric Herman, Cook County Assessor spokesman, said there weren't many places to cut. The downtown office serves 1,500 people per week on average, compared to 200 at each of the suburban branches. He said they've cut full-time staff from 474 to about 385 employees since 1998.

"Houlihan wanted to do anything possible to avoid layoffs," Herman said.

Herman added that most services are provided online, including downloading forms and filing appeals. The assessor's Web site is one of the state's busiest with 5.2 million monthly hits during tax season.

Details are still being worked out, but Kelly said he heard Rolling Meadows will close on May 1. Markham, Bridgeview, Skokie and Maywood offices also are closing.