Western Springs Braces For Tax Delay; County Problems Persist

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – The village of Western Springs has endured Cook County's repeated delays in distributing property tax money, an official said this week.

That's because the village's bank balances are higher than required, Village Manager Ellen Baer said.

"For other taxing bodies that don't have that much flexibility in their current budget, this can be very, very strenuous. And over time, this will get more strenuous for us," Baer told the Village Board.

Last week, County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced a two-month delay in property tax distributions. Such problems occurred last year as well, which resulted in much finger-pointing.

The issues stem from a software project that started a decade ago, overseen by Texas-based Tyler Technologies.

At the Village Board meeting, Baer said Western Springs has learned that 2,500 tax bills never went out for the second installment last year and the first one this year.

"Those are things the county is still working through," she said. "We will try to find out if any of those are Western Springs parcels. I don't know at this time."

She promised the village would continue to monitor the county's tax situation.