$3.1M In Surprise Revenue Doled Out To Lake Co. Municipalities

LAKE COUNTY, IL — The Lake County Clerk's Office is in the process of distributing $3.12 million funds owed to local taxing bodies that was not doled out as part of the redemption and greenback process.

Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega learned of the discrepancies, which date back to fiscal year 2019, in May after he management staff to conduct internal reviews of their respective department to identify areas of opportunity for better service, streamline operations, and update policy, according to a news release.

After becoming aware of this, Vega directed staff to reconcile records, determine the amount of funds owed to the more than 200 taxing districts and begin the process to outline the distribution of funds back into the Lake County community.

Funds owed to taxing districts include: $260,640.46 to Waukegan Community Unit School District #60, $177,314.46 to Antioch School District #34, $169,459.49 to North Chicago Community Unit School District #187, $141,144.66 to Round Lake Area School District #116 and $118,152.88 to Lake Zurich Community Unit School District #95.

The following is a breakdown of funds broken down by fiscal year:

• FY2019: $22,952.57
• FY2020: $596,495.64
• FY2021: $1,562,350.35
• FY2022: $937,228.55
• TOTAL: $3,119,027.11

"While the distribution of these funds is overdue, I am glad to be sending them back to our local communities where they belong. This was a failure of the prior Administration, and I am committed to rebuilding the trust between the County Clerk’s Office, our local taxing districts, and constituents. We are continuing to implement internal controls to ensure this does not happen again," Vega said.

Distributions have begun to be scheduled and will be done on a weekly basis until all funds have been distributed, according to a news release.

"I would also like to thank the staff at the County Assessor's Office and County Treasurer Holly Kim’s Office for their assistance in resolving this matter promptly," Vega said.

As part of the reception process, delinquent property taxes are sold at a two-day tax sale. If no one bids on a property, Lake County, as trustee for the taxing districts becomes the default tax buyer at which point the county treasurer turns over responsibility for collection of delinquent property taxes to the county clerk.

Following the tax sale, the property owner has a period of time to redeem taxes before they could lose ownership

The Greenbook is a list of Lake County owned parcels that is for sale to the public. These parcels were acquired after being foreclosed upon due to unpaid property taxes, according to the news release.

Once a property has been sold via the Greenbook process, the county clerk is responsible for the distribution of the funds to the appropriate taxing bodies.