Arrearage Tax History
In 2007 while preparing the Thomas Ford Memorial Library's 2006 Tax Rate Report, the Cook County Clerk's office made an error when it calculated the Library's limiting rate and excluded $17,908,787 of Timber Trails annexation property. This error lowered the Library's limiting rate from 0.157 to 0.152 resulting in a loss of $29,223.40 in revenue from the 2007 tax levy.
To correct this error, as entitled by law, the Library Board requested that the Village Board, our taxing authority, direct the Cook County Clerk's office to remedy the tax deficiency. The only recourse that the County could provide, according to State statute, was to prepare a property tax arrearage bill. As part of that Statute, the County must also inform taxpayers of the mistake made by sending letters to each tax-paying entity in Western Springs with an explanation as to what happened and how their mistake will be remedied. The County mailed these letters on October 1, 2008.
The error made by the County Clerk will be corrected through an arrearage tax that will be collected in two installments in 2009. The County was mandated to collect the monies in this manner. Neither of the taxing bodies involved - the Village or the Library - had an opportunity to provide input as to the County's methodology in collecting the arrearage tax. Some of the amounts taxpayers will be billed are quite small but the arrearage bills are still regular tax bills levied against Western Springs properties so it is very important to pay these amounts along with the amount included in the regular tax bills.
Please note that this situation arose not out of an error made by the Library Board or the Village Board but out of a mistake made by the Assessor's Office of the Cook County Clerk. The money to be collected in 2009 is not "extra money" that the Library is getting but rather it is a portion of the 2007 levy that was not extended by the County. Although we regret the confusion these two extra tax bills may cause Western Springs residents, the Library Board feels strongly that the money legally due the Library must be collected as we face major capital projects both immediately and in the not-too-distant future.
Copies of the correspondence with the Cook County Clerk's Office concerning this matter are available at the Reference Desk of the Thomas Ford Memorial Library. Please direct any questions to Anne M. Kozak, Library Director, at 708-246-0520 or kozak@fordlibrary.org.
