A Will County Board member and resident say they are concerned members of the Board of Review, responsible for hearing tax appeals from property owners, continue to serve past the end of their set terms.
Julie Connor, of Lockport, said she grew concerned about the Board of Review’s transparency and oversight as a retired teacher who became a certified Illinois assessing officer in 2024, after challenging assessments of her own home.
“The more I learned, the more I realized that it’s an unfair system,” Connor said.
Connor said while exploring the Will County Board of Review website, she noticed each board member’s term had expired by at least two years. Board of Review members are appointed by the Will County executive, Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, but must be confirmed by a vote from the Will County Board.
“I started asking, well, why haven’t they been brought back?” she said. “They should come to a public forum.”
Terms for Board of Review members last two years, beginning June 1 of the year of their appointment.
The longest serving board member, Susan McMillin, has served since 2009. Her term ended June 1, 2024.
The terms for Ann Crickman, who been on the board since 2022, and Sue Smith, first appointed in 2019, ended June 1, 2023, according to Michael Theodore, director of communications for the Will County executive’s office.
All three Board of Review members will be considered for reappointment during the a Will County Executive Committee meeting on July 9, Theodore said. The appointments were scheduled to come to a vote June 11, but were removed from the agenda at the last minute, without any reason given, he said.
Will County Board Speaker Joe VanDuyne, a Wilmington Democrat, creates the meeting agendas, and said he pulled the appointments after an “outside individual” voiced concerns about one of the members.
VanDuyne said he chose to hold off to make sure the concerns, which he would not name, were addressed.
“I’m very confident in the three individuals that have been expired — they’ve been doing a fantastic job for the last couple years,” he said.
He said he is confident they will voted on at the next board meeting.
Theodore could not point to a specific reason why the appointments were delayed by multiple years but said factors included “a lot more active discussions about appointments” as a result of changes in leadership at the board level.
“It’s not like an intentional, ‘let’s leave these unappointed,'” he said. “From what I’ve heard from the county executive (Bertino-Tarrant), there haven’t been any County Board members who are saying, ‘when can we get these in front of us?'”
Board member Jacqueline Traynere, a Bolingbrook Democrat, said she plans to vote against the reappointments as she believes the Board of Review may be responsible for unfair property assessments that provide tax breaks for businesses at the expense of some residents.
“I think they’re all in cahoots with our county executive, who has been breaking the law for several years because she’s not putting these Board of Review appointments up in front of the County Board,” Traynere said.
Traynere said about two years ago, she expressed interest in one of the positions, offering to resign from her board seat, but was told the former Will County Board chair, a Republican, would not approve her appointment.
Now, she believes Bertino-Tarrant is “absolutely paranoid” the board will not approve her reappointments, leading to the delays.
Meanwhile, Julie Connor said she hopes to see concerns being raised behind closed doors brought to the public’s attention.
“I think the Board of Review needs to go to a County Board meeting and they need to answer questions,” she said. “We need the very best people in these positions, especially at the county level, and if they’re not willing to come forward and answer questions, then they don’t want to be voted on.”
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
