CHICAGO — Last year, the Cook County Board of Reviews poured over nearly half a million property tax appeals from Chicago area landowners — the busiest year in the board's history.
But what exactly is the group's purpose?
Each year the Cook County Assessor's Office values more than 1.8 million properties throughout the county, assessing each property and giving it an estimated monetary worth that tells property owners how much they will have to pay in property taxes.
It's the Board of Reviews' job to review appeals and respond to property owners in Cook County who disagree with the original value assigned by the Assessor's Office.
In 2015, the board reviewed 476,537 property tax assessment appeals filed by 50,178 individuals, including businesses, homeowners, industrial and vacant land owners and more.
Of those appeals, about 64 percent were successful, according to the group's statistics.
The board is also the entity in which property owners can apply to be exempt from state property taxes.
Last year, only 1,017 requests for exemption were made to the board.
Founded in 1938, the board is now made up of a three-person team of commissioners — Larry R. Rogers Jr., Dan Patlak and Michael Cabonargi. The board until 1998 was known as the Board of Appeals, and consisted of just two members.
This year, Cabonargi is running unopposed as a Democrat in the 2nd District, while Patlak, a Republican, will square-off against Democratic candidate Marty Stack in the 1st District.
Stack, a private attorney, has not held an elected office before, whereas Patlak's platform heavily highlights his experience being a commissioner on the board since 2010, as well as a County Assessor in Wheeling Township.
Stack told "Chicago Tonight" one of the most pressing issues for the 2016 election was to "eliminate what I feel are artificial deadlines to file an appeal," particularly for homeowners who opt into the appeal processes without a lawyer to represent them. He said he believed homeowners should be able to file appeals year-round, while currently there are varying deadlines.
Patlak said in a statement on his website that in addition to his experience, his career is marked by "safeguarding the appeal process against partisan abuse as well as bringing balance to a Board dominated by Democrats."
Under Patlak's tenure the appeals process moved from one with paper to an online system and the board's website added a Freedom of Information Act page.
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