Modernize assessments to make them more fair

To Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios and Chief Deputy Assessor Christopher Crowley. I received your letter of Nov. 3 stating your analysis of my assessment appeal indicates my assessed valuation should remain as originally proposed. I disagree and have submitted a request for re-review based on the comparable assessments I originally submitted showing my property is assessed 4 percent to 6.9 percent greater than some of my neighbors with identical properties.

Why did it take almost two months to reach this conclusion? I know your office must be busy with appeals, but did anyone even look at my comparable properties? Furthermore, why is the window to request a re-review only open few days? And why is it limited to only requests submitted by mail, common carrier or fax?

I've heard a law firm advertisement promoting their services for insurance claims, saying insurance firms' strategy is to "deny, deny, deny and delay hoping you will go away" - is this your strategy? Don't tell me the repeal of the soda tax has caused reduced staff, do not add staff until the funds in hand.

So as to not just criticize, let me suggest you modernize and automate the assessment process. In my neighborhood and probably many Cook County neighborhoods, there are just a few different property models. These should be assessed the same so homeowners don't have to appeal (you have those details online). Since your process does not recognize this, it makes more work every year.

By making all the assessments for identical properties the same, you won't have to handle appeals every year so you can deal with those properties that are true exceptions.

Joe Celosky

Hoffman Estates