Keep the Property Tax Assessor Professional, not Political

The public should be very wary about a piece of legislation (Senate Bill 2544) that is narrowly focused, politically expedient and fundamentally changes the way properties are assessed and the amount of taxes we pay. The bill, touted as wildly bipartisan, is popular because it only affects Lake County and will not impact the areas where most of the state representatives and senators live and pay taxes. It's easy to vote for something that won't affect where you live.

Nearly three quarters of the counties in Illinois use a similar process as the current system in Lake County. If the public doesn’t approve of the assessor or their work, write the County board, show up to board meetings, and be vocal about holding the assessor accountable. Keep in mind, the county's property tax assessor is a professional, merit based position that works for the county board. Do the taxpayers in Lake County really want their assessor to become a professional politician that needs to campaign and raise money and attend political functions? Do you want campaign money and influence from outside of Lake County affecting the election results for that job? I know I don't want my professional assessor dedicating time to campaign mailers, commercials, signs, robo calls and door knocking. I prefer a full time professional dedicated to the job without the political influence and campaign non sense.

Representative Yingling sounds good when he says, "make the county assessor accountable to the voters". But in reality, changing this job from professional to political will have numerous negative consequences and the position already answers to the public. Simply consider what is happening right now with this public debate and the voter input to the county board.