Kane Co. chairman beats back challenge to appeals appointments

One of the biggest battles in Kane County government right now is over accurate property tax bills.

The county's Board of Review is in charge of determining who's right when a taxpayer challenges a property assessment. As of Tuesday, one person has all the power to appoint the members of that board - Kane County Chairman Karen McConnaughay.

Gripes over the single-handed nature of those appointments grew to a grumble Tuesday as the county board was asked to declare an emergency and appoint more members to the board of review.

More members are needed to speed up the dispute process because there are so many property tax appeals this year, proponents of the move say. Property tax bills are in jeopardy of not being mailed out on time.

Board member Bonnie Kunkel has been one of the leading voices of concern. The board had a vote in the past, Kunkel said, but this year a new interpretation of state law by the county board's attorneys said that is unnecessary.

Now McConnaughay can make the appointments on her own from a list of candidates who pass a qualifying test. The county board may not impose any new qualifications on Board of Review members beyond the test, according to the state's attorney.

Stymied by those opinions, Kunkel said she will fight early next year to win back the board's role in the appointment process.

"It's one of those issues that really came too late to have any impact," Kunkel said.

But McConnaughay indicated that effort may fall on deaf ears.

McConnaughay told Kunkel if she, or other board members, want to have an impact on her power to appoint members to the board of review, then they should focus on changing state law.

The reason the board wasn't given a list of alternates to appoint to the Board of Review in an emergency this year, McConnaughay said, is because "it's not required."

"If you all want to have a vote on it, it really doesn't matter because the chairman makes the appointment." she added.

To that, board member Jim Mitchell asked why the county must create a list of alternates to appoint to the board of review every single year instead of just having a board of review with enough members to start.

"The real question is why do we have an emergency every year," McConnaughay replied.