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BYLINE: Chicago Sun-Times 12/4/01 No on likes to pay taxes. But pay them we must. Sometimes it seems the best we can hope is that the money isn't wasted and that the system of collecting them is fair. But as Sun-Times reporter Tim Novak has demonstrated, that's not always the case. The power brokers get breaks from the Cook County Board of Review, and the insiders there can manipulate the system for their benefit. Novak's stories are a stinging indictment of how this taxing body is run. Novak's most recent article showed how two staff members at the board sought tax breaks on their own properties. One, Paul Brust, used the name of a deceased man. Another, Margaret R. Marro, used the name of her home's previous owner. Both deceptions enabled the workers to hide their identities. Brust recommended that the three-member Board of Review approve the reassessment decrease for the home he surreptitiously owned. Marro, with an insider's understanding of the system, helped her cause by falsely stating that the home had not been sold in years. Both have now been fired, though Board of Review Commissioner Joseph Berrios was initially inclined to lest Brust off with a reprimand. An earlier investigation by Novak showed that four local elected officials got some terrific help from the county in having their assessments reduced. Three ended up with the lowest tax bills on their blocks and a fourth lower than most. For Chicago Ald. John Pope and Cook County Commissioner Roberto Maldonado, board staff members did all the legwork on collecting data to make the case for reduction. Board officials insist that this kind of service is available to everyone, but columnist Mark Brown's invitation to regular folks to try it showed otherwise. Property tax assessment is an imperfect science. But, given reader response to the Sun-Times examination of the Board of Review's operations, there is considerable dissatisfaction with the office ? at least among taxpayers. When Berrios went before the Cook County Board days after Novak's first story to talk about his department's budget request, not one commissioner queried him about the outrage generated by the pols getting extraordinary tax help. Perhaps they didn't want to embarrass fellow board member Maldonado. What's truly embarrassing is ? in the words of one watchdog ? "This is so Cook County." CFAT News Source news@fairtaxes.net "So Cook County", so unfair to us |
