In the News

Pioneer Press, August 2, 2007

Shields Township received nearly $44,000 too little in 2006, which the Lake County treasurer's office said will be given back to the township once the amounts are received from Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, North Chicago and Waukegan.

"We've contacted the four municipalities that got the overage (too much money) and gave them the option of paying back directly by check or by withholding from the distribution in late August," said Chief Deputy Treasurer Donald Schneider. "So far, Lake Forest and Lake Bluff have said they will cut checks to us. Once we receive the Waukegan and North Chicago distribution, we will refund the money to Shields Township."

Schneider said the treasurer's office would prefer to correct the error to Shields Township with one payment of $43,819.02.

"We would like to make it a lump sum," he said. "We would like to take care of this with the least amount of paperwork without complicating it further. This has been a very confusing matter."

The error should not occur again, said Lake County Clerk Willard Helander, because the process "is automated now," she said.

The distribution error was discovered in July.

As a result of the error, State Sen. Susan Garrett D-29th, of Lake Forest has asked the county clerk and treasurer's offices to inform the municipalities of their share of the overall abatement amount, provide a breakout of the actual dollar amounts to be abated by each municipality for the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 tax extensions and to provide documentation that the abatement for the 2004 extension was carried out correctly, she said in a letter to Helander and Lake County Treasurer Robert Skidmore. (When a taxing body gets more property-tax money than it expected or needs, it can vote to abate or return some of that money to taxpayers.)

"There is an accountability issue here," Garrett said. "I think it's very troubling" that there was "no clear process laid out on how the municipalities would be responsible for this payment process."

The error was made in determining the court-ordered adjustments resulting from a lawsuit filed in 2003 objecting to a two-cent increase in the tax levy for the Shields Township road district.

The increase, from 2.5 cents to 4.5 cents per $100 of equalized assessed value of a home, violated the Illinois tax cap law, the plaintiffs said. David Barkhausen of Lake Bluff, who is now the clerk of Shields Township, represented about 300 taxpayers in the case.

In December 2004, Lake County Judge Ray McKoski of the 19th Judicial Circuit Court ruled the tax increase illegal and awarded tax relief for the plaintiffs. A separate suit filed by Barkhausen asked for an abatement for all Shields Township residents.

The judge ruled that the total $383,458.40 be spread evenly in the amounts of $95,864.60 to be paid over four years, with a 3 percent interest on the balance.

"That $44,000 is so precious to the highway commissioner," Garrett said. "That's why it's important that the township, the clerk and treasurer all come together and come out with a system with much more control. At the very least, I would do an internal audit to be sure they are in sync."

While the extension of the road and bridge taxes was correctly calculated by the clerk's office, there was an error in the determination of distribution to the municipalities, according to a letter from Helander to Shields Township Road and Bridge Commissioner Bill Goodman.

Historically, Shields Township has received 51 percent of the distribution, but in 2006 it only received 39 percent.