But will tax bills follow suit?

With local governments' tax collections tied to the Consumer Price Index in the midst of a harsh recession, many Cook County property owners should see little increase in their second-installment tax bills being mailed out this week, according to Clerk David Orr's Office.

Tax rates for some of the county's 1,500 taxing bodies went down, Orr disclosed Monday. Tax rates for Northwest suburban schools, which typically make up about half of a person's tax bill, dropped or increased modestly, with several exceptions.

Coupled with lower property assessments for homeowners across the county, that should mean few surprises on many bills being mailed out on Wednesday, said Bill Vaselopulos of the clerk's office.

But some areas where rates rose higher could buck that trend, and

one wild card could push individual homeowners' tax bills up, Vaselopulos said.

That's the record 430,000 property assessment appeals filed with the Cook County Board of Review half again more than the previous record of 280,000, and almost a quarter of the county's 1.8 million properties.

Homeowners could see significant increases in their tax bills if many of their neighbors won significant assessment reductions and they did not, or if highly valued commercial property nearby had its assessment lowered.

"Your increases or decreases are due to everyone else's increases or decreases in your area," Vaselopulos said.

Among the highest tax rate increases for schools, Des Plaines Elementary District 62's rate rose 7 percent and Elk Grove Township District 59's rate rose 7.46 percent, which officials in District 59 attributed to reduced assessed property value in the school district.

During his unsuccessful campaign for Cook County assessor, Chicago Democratic Commissioner Forrest Claypool put out a list of the 300 largest assessment reductions in the county, many of which were in the suburbs. He charged that the Board of Review assessment reductions for big commercial properties would shift the tax burden to homeowners.

Joe Fratto, chief deputy treasurer under Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, said his office did not yet have figures for the average increase or decrease seen in the second-installment tax bills, which will go out Wednesday with a due date of Dec. 13. He said property owners can check their bills Wednesday online at cookcountytreasurer.com.

In the back and forth on the way to setting tax bills, Assessor James Houlihan lowered homeowners' assessments across the county this year, and the Board of Review granted a record number of reductions in assessment appeals. The state Department of Revenue made up for that by setting a record-high equalizer of 3.3701, meant to bring Cook County's assessment levels in line with those elsewhere in the state.

Tax caps limited the increase in tax collections to 0.1 percent, the increase in the Consumer Price Index, in many districts.

Cook County is raising $11.3 billion in property-tax revenue this year, up 1.8 percent from $11.1 billion last year, Vaselopulos said. The lion's share of the increase is in the suburbs, but even at that it's a 2.78 percent increase in suburban Cook County, he said.

Vaselopulos said that with 1,500 taxing bodies creating 2,500 different combinations in tax bills across the county, "to make a generalization is very hard," but that most homeowners should see little increase in their tax bills.

First-installment 2010 bills will be due April 1, a month later than usual, Fratto said, in part because the second-installment 2009 bills are going out so late this year.  

Joe Berrios won election Tuesday as Cook County assessor. He'll leave the county Board of Review — his appeals board's formal name — to take the new gig. After which the appeals board on which Berrios now sits will affirm or reject the property valuations of ... Joe Berrios, assessor.

Property tax attorneys no doubt hope that Berrios will be replaced on the tax appeals board by a like-minded officeholder. Berrios accepts campaign cash from lawyers whose big clients have an uncanny habit of then receiving reductions in their property valuations. It's a zero-sum game: When those building owners pay less, the rest of us pay more.

The job of appointing Berrios' successor on the appeals board falls to Judge Timothy Evans, the head of Cook County's court system. By law, Evans' choice must be a member of Berrios' political party. Democrats, start your applications.

Berrios has dominated the three-member tax appeals board, which needs an infusion of businesslike efficiency and modern technology. Evans can make a hugely positive change in this powerful if obscure backwater: Whomever he appoints will join another new board member, Republican Dan Patlak, who formerly worked at the board and has served as Wheeling Township assessor. On Tuesday, Patlak ousted incumbent Democrat Brendan Houlihan. The third board member, Democrat Larry Rogers Jr., has two years left in his term.

Regular Dems likely will press Evans to select someone who'll protect Berrios — he runs the county Democratic Party — by not aggressively second-guessing his office's property valuations. We hope Evans instead chooses someone with Patlak's strong background in assessment to replace Berrios. Installing another Democratic insider could worsen this office's already dismal reputation as a pay-to-play haven, and further delay the tech overhaul it needs.

Evans told us Friday that he's looking not only for someone who is fair and impartial, but who is willing to lower or raise property valuations if that's what a review of the numbers dictates. That will rattle lawyers who reflexively file appeals regardless of the merits.

Judge Evans, you'll draw a lot of attention with this appointment. Please make it on behalf of taxpayers who need more fairness in property valuations — not on behalf of tax attorneys who want someone to accept their donations and smile on their clients.

The Democrats' decisive election-night victories confirm that the party remains the Goliath of Cook County government. But Wheeling assessor Dan Patlak, newly elected Cook County Board of Review commissioner and one of a handful of Republicans to prevail Tuesday for county office, insists he's no David.

"I will be a voice for what I feel is right, for Republican values, but more importantly for the needs and values of the people who elected me," said Patlak, who defeated Democratic incumbent Brendan Houlihan for a seat on the three-member board, which hears homeowners' assessment appeals.

He hopes that his victory will help pave the way for increased political balance within county government.

"It's not a healthy situation when you have one party controlling everything in the county that has to do with property taxes, because it's a breeding ground for corruption," said Patlak, who worked for eight years as an aide to Houlihan's predecessor, Republican Maureen Murphy.

Patlak said he will work with his fellow commissioners to "run the most fair, efficient, cost-effective board of review" possible.

To that end, he spent three hours Wednesday going over the transition with a prospective staff member.

"My desire is to hit the ground running with very little downtime for myself or my staff," said Patlak, who will be sworn in on Dec. 6.

Patlak campaigned on a promise of working in the position full-time, saying the pay scale merits a full-time commitment.

As a former review board employee, "I felt things worked better when commissioners were present," he said

By Kevin Olsen
From The Regional News

A Republican will now sit on the Cook County Board of Review after Wheeling Township Assessor Dan Patlak defeated Palos Heights resident Brendan Houlihan for the District 1 seat on Tuesday night.

District 1 serves suburban Cook County on the three member property-tax assessment appeals board.

Patlak received 253,409 votes, or 51.9 percent of the unofficial vote total, with all 1,437 precincts reporting. Houlihan received 235,003 votes, or 48.1 percent.

“I ran an honest campaign based on my background and experience and competence for the job,” Patlak said on election night. “[Voters] wanted competent government, they wanted clean government and they wanted balanced government.”

The election is for a two-year term on the three-member Board of Review before the districts are redrawn in 2012. Houlihan was elected in 2006 and served one term.

Patlak’s first goal is to work with the other commissioners to implement an online tax appeals process to increase the efficiency and transparency of the Board.

“My intention is to work in the interest of taxpayers,” Patlak said. “If my lead holds up, this is something that helps improve the balance with county government.”

Patlak said political balance is needed on the Board of Review. Citizens want confidence that appeals are being analyzed fairly and that it cannot happen with Democrats controlling the Board and the tax system as a whole, he said during his campaign.

“Complete control of an institution like the Board of Review or Cook County is extremely unhealthy for government,” Patlak said.

Patlak will resign from his possession as Wheeling Township assessor, which he was elected to in 2005 and re-elected in 2009. He also spent eight years working as a full-time analyst for the Board of Review.

He has held a real estate broker’s license for the past 24 years and is a graduate of the Real Estate Institute. He graduated from Valparaiso University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He was also a volunteer leader for the national organization Citizens Against Government Waste.

Houlihan, like Patlak, made one of his top campaign goals to work toward creating an online appeals system. He could not be reached for comment on election night. Houlihan is a 15-year resident of Palos Heights and works at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.