Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor: District 31 Superintendent, Assessors Clarify Referendum Impact on Tax Payers

District 31 Superintendent, Northfield Township Assessor and Cook County Township Assessors' Association President share a joint statement with Patch.

Dear Editor, District 31 Superintendent Alexandra Nicholson has arrived at an agreement with Northfield Township Assessor Patricia Damisch and with Ali ElSaffar, President of the Cook County Township Assessors' Association and Oak Park Township Assessor, regarding the April 5 ballot language and the impact of the proposed tax increase on District 31 tax payers. The 2010 reassessment makes calculating an accurate tax impact for tax payers complicated, as both the reassessment and a successful referendum will increase District 31's tax rate.  It is important to note that the .178% increase in the tax rate resulting from the reassessment will not bring the District any additional revenue, but will instead compensate for the decline in home …

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Making Sense of Your Property Tax

VIDEO: Cook County Township Assessors Band Together

In Day Four of our series, Patch gives you the inside scoop on powerful organizations you may not know exist within the world of property taxes.

Check out the video with Robert Porter, a former township supervisor who serves as a representative for the township assessors. He attends the CCTAA meetings and provides updates on the property tax system as a whole. For $300 a year, township assessors in Cook County share lunch nine times a year with their township counterparts as part of the Cook County Township Assessors' Association (CCTAA). With 30 townships in the county, the CCTAA offers a meeting place for the people’s advocates to debate, learn and teach property tax information, as a branch of the umbrella organization Township Officials of Cook County. “Since the 1960s, assessors have been meeting about nine times a year for training,” said CCTAA President Ali ElSaffar, who is …

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Assessors Say District 31 Ballot Underestimates Proposed Tax Hike

According to a group of Cook County assessors, ballot calculations of District 31's proposed tax increase do not accurately reflect the impact if the measure passes.

The figures on the ballot for West Northfield School District 31’s tax referendum are misleading, according to a group of Cook County assessors.  That’s because, along with other school, fire protection and library districts with referenda on the April 5 ballot, District 31 did not estimate its proposed tax increase using a countywide multiplier that is ultimately applied to all taxpayer’s bills, according to Ali ElSaffar, president of the Cook County Township Assessors Association and Oak Park Township Assessor. Without the multiplier included in calculations, the ballot figures could be underestimated as much as 70 percent, he explained.  “Personally, I’m not saying I’m in favor or against any of these referendums, but I do think people …

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