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Summary and audio linked here.
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
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Audio and summary
The property tax sale system didn’t fuel urban decay, the incompetent administration of the system did. Real property is the largest revenue source of local governments. The efficient collection of real property taxes is essential to the continuation of all municipal services. This system was designed to transfer collection and litigation risk to the public, making collection and budgeting more efficient. The City of Chicago is the biggest land owner. A lot of municipal properties erroneously end up in the Scavenger Sale, and sovereign immunity prevents the issuance of a tax deed on these properties. Caveat emptor. The errors in… Read more »
No offense Dave, but the property tax system did and does fuel urban decay. Yes, the system is archaic, inefficient and fraught with peril. But that’s not the problem. The problem is that there is (was) no mechanism in the law to clear back taxes owed on a property. A property cannot be transferred from one party to another without first paying all the back taxes. Many times, in a county like Cook, the back taxes exceed the value of the property. For example, a shell of a home in Maywood worth $40,000 will have a $40,000 tax lien on… Read more »
Buddy, you don’t have a clue what you are talking about. Too bad you wasted all of your time typing that. Your hallucinations fall apart if you read the statutes. That’s pretty self absorbed and absolutely absurd to think you could easily identify a gaping revenue hole in the tax code. https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs5.asp?ActID=596&ChapterID=8 Scavenger sales are here: (35 ILCS 200/21-260) TAKE NOTE OF THE $250 BID REQUIREMENT! There are 3 types of sales on back taxes. Annual, Scavenger, and Forfeiture. Annual Sales come up every year and require the full amount due to be paid. Scavenger Sales require two Annual Sales… Read more »
Apparently you’ve never pulled an Estimate of Redemption at the County Building with $30,000 in back taxes on some property … It’s the properties where no bids were ever made, in the blighted areas, where the redemption of the back taxes exceed the value of the property. Google “zombie properties Cook County” and it touches on the issue, where properties go into foreclosure but the foreclosure process is never completed, so it goes into a zombie like state. The reason why the process in never completed is because taxes. The back taxes on the property often exceed the value of… Read more »
Thousands of languishing vacant and abandoned properties with unpaid taxes harm Black neighborhoods and suburbs. Cook County treasurer says program aimed at fixing the problem is not working. December 10, 2020 Every two years, Cook County conducts what’s called the scavenger sale. Tens of thousands of mostly vacant and often abandoned properties with a significant amount of unpaid taxes go up for auction, with the aim of getting them into the hands of people who can return the land to productive use and put it back on the tax rolls. County Treasurer Maria Pappas is out with a new report… Read more »
Maria Pappas is covering her own ass, and she’s trying to change the system to alleviate flack from Cook County Assessor mistakes. The Sale in Error garbage she cites is a zero sum game and they’re not really losing money. If the Assessor cleaned up their office, there wouldn’t be as many Sales In Error. This whole article is complete BS. People aren’t bidding on the properties because they aren’t worth bidding on!!! People aren’t bidding on the properties because they have demolition liens or are in Fast Track. Chicago loves to knock down buildings and slap $30K linens on… Read more »
You’re absolutely impossible. An Estimate of Redemption is prima facie evidence that a tax sale certificate was issued and that someone is already making an effort to acquire title to the property via the tax sale system!!!!!!!! If someone bids $250 in the scavenger sale, you, as a prospective purchaser, would still need to pay the full $30,000 due to redeem the property. This is perfectly logical. Can you at least read what I write or do some research before you post? Is that asking too much? I’m considering doing a documentary on this or perhaps forwarding my notes to… Read more »
WTTW is most likely wrong too in their article on a couple of things. I don’t have the time to play with this today.