THIS IS URGENT!!! The Lake County Board of Review Is Going To Take Away Your Rights To Appeal Your Property Taxes Unless You ACT NOW!

The Lake County Board of Review May Soon Tell You Who You Can Hire!  Let Them Know This is a Very Bad Idea.

Did you hire a good property tax agent to appeal your property tax assessment last year?  If the Lake County Board of Review gets its way, you won’t have that option anymore if that agent was not a lawyer.  The Board of Review is proposing new language in their rules that only licensed attorneys will be allowed to  represent property owners in 2013.

It makes no difference that the service that many fine tax agents provide requires no legal knowledge or specialized legal skill whatsoever.  It makes no difference that no one on the Board of Review, or any of the alternate members of the board, is a lawyer or has any legal background.  They are disregarding what is good for the property owners of Lake County.  You may no longer have the opportunity to hire the firm that got you a nice tax reduction last year.

What benefit could Lake County property owners gain by allowing only attorneys to appear before the Board of Review?  The answer is simple: NONE!  None for the property owners, that’s for sure.  This change in policy will surely further enrich the legal community but will do absolutely nothing for the taxpayer…especially those with relatively modest property values who cannot afford representation by an attorney.

There is no one better suited to advocate for the property owner than a licensed Realtor, appraiser, accountant or other property tax professional that deals in
valuations of property day in and day out. There are no legal questions here. 
There are no legal issues in determining if a property is fairly assessed or should be granted a reduction.  But your Lake County Board of Review is about to dictate that you’ll have to use a lawyer if you want to appeal your property tax assessment. 

Limiting competition among property assessment appeal consultants to attorneys will surely benefit the legal community at the expense of Lake County
residents.  By having to hire an attorney, easy, inexpensive access to the Board of Review will be a thing of the past and deprives a property owner from choosing who can best represent their interest. 

If you want to have a choice in who you want to hire to represent you, please send your feelings, before the meeting on Monday, March 18, 2013, to:

• Tom Cooprider, CIAO, Board of Review Chairman
  at tcooprider@lakecountyil.gov
• Marty Paulson, Chief County
  Assessment Ofiicer at mpaulson@lakecountyil.gov
• Mike Nerheim, Lake County States
  Attorney at mnerheim@lakecountyil.gov
• Tara Ori, Asst. Lake County States
  Attorney at tori@lakecountyil.gov
• Aaron Lawlor, Chairman of the Lake County Board at alawlor@lakecountyil.gov