The Cook County property tax system’s transition from a 50-year-old information technology system has had its share of missteps and delays due to its vendor, Tyler Technologies. But in any transition of this scope and size, unexpected problems will occur on the path to a more stable and predictable system. Focusing only on the difficulties misses the collective efforts of the assessor’s office and other Cook County property tax offices to solve these problems.
In the first five years of the Tyler contract, which was signed three years before I became assessor, no meaningful progress was made. But in 2020, we were the first office to go live in the new system with a new online appeals platform. Without this initiative by my office, the work of the property tax system would have ground to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, my office created an improved online application for property tax exemptions, launched a new mobile tablet app for use by our office’s property inspectors and, most importantly, released more accurate assessments so that all homeowners benefit from more accurate tax bills.
This past December, the assessor’s office raised alarms about the vendor’s delays in creating reports we needed last spring to assist in the production of tax bills. When these crucial processes were deprioritized by the vendor, we were forced to manually create key portions of these reports; this was only possible after the assessor’s office staff spent nights and weekends completing them. Thanks to our work, we reduced a projected delay of a month to merely eight days.
At this point, the assessor’s office’s tax bill-related work is complete. While the exact delivery date of tax bills remains uncertain, I applaud the Cook County Board president’s office for publishing the Property Tax Bill Tracker, a first-of-its-kind effort to show which tasks must be completed before tax bills can be issued.
High-level staff members in my office are helping other offices with their phases of the project. We are all working together to complete this work as quickly as possible.
The assessor’s office does not issue tax bills and cannot dictate the deadlines for this project. But over the past 6 1/2 years, I have made this technology transition a priority and put all possible resources toward it to deliver on the promises of transparency and reliability demanded by the public.
— Fritz Kaegi, Cook County assessor
Protect tenants’ rights
Law Center for Better Housing applauds the Tribune for putting the issue of resident displacement and affordable housing front and center in the Aug. 24 article “Aldermen opt out of new tenant powers.” We recognize the effort of City Council members trying to address these problems and the fortitude of our clients who have put themselves on the line to try to save their homes.
While the article discusses one avenue to prevent displacement, we urge the City Council to consider three less intrusive policy changes that would protect the rights of tenants to remain in their homes when they have done nothing wrong:
Just cause for eviction: “Just cause” legislation recognizes the need to move out tenants who cause problems but protects tenants who pay their rent and are committed to their homes and neighborhoods.
Right to eviction defense counsel: The Belden-Sawyer tenants obtained eviction defense counsel through the Right to Counsel Pilot Project, ensuring they had free legal aid while navigating eviction court. The three-year pilot project is coming to an end without stable funding or permanent enactment despite its overwhelming success, which, according to an independent study, helped 92% of renters who wanted to avoid an eviction judgment, avoid a formal eviction.
Stronger anti-retaliation laws: Current tenant protection laws do not adequately protect tenants who are withholding rent in an organized rent strike. The Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance should be amended to distinguish between tenants using economic boycott principles and others who breach their leases.
All three proposals seek to balance the power between landlords and renters because committed residents strengthen neighborhoods and the city.
The first two policy reforms have been introduced, and we urge the City Council take them up. The third reform should be part of a comprehensive evaluation of the Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, which turns 40 years old in 2026.
— Michelle Gilbert, legal and policy director, Law Center for Better Housing, Chicago
Organ donors needed
The editorial “Organ donors should be dead first” (Aug. 14) rightly emphasizes the sanctity of life. It also puts at risk tens of thousands patients waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant.
The editorial is absolutely correct that the goal is to keep as many people alive as possible. Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, the organ procurement organization that serves Illinois and Lake County in Indiana, shares this mission to save and enhance as many lives as possible through organ and tissue donation.
Donation is not about rushing death; it is about honoring life. Not just the life of the potential donor, but also the more than 100,000 patients in the United States awaiting a transplant
Organ donation is one of the most carefully monitored and ethically managed systems in health care. Federal law, medical ethics and hospital protocols require that the doctors treating a patient be entirely separate from those involved in organ recovery. Death must be confirmed by independent physicians with no role in transplantation. This ensures that every patient receives the full benefit of care.
Gift of Hope is committed to protecting the dignity of donors and their families. Donation is pursued only after death is declared. Our specialists support grieving families, explain the donation process and walk with them through the hardest moment of their lives.
Thousands of people are alive today because a donor, or a donor’s family, chose to say yes. A single donor can save up to eight lives, restore sight to two people and heal more than 75 others through tissue donation.
When fear or misinformation spreads, fewer people register, and patients die waiting. That is why Gift of Hope prioritizes outreach and education. Families often find comfort when they can affirm a loved one’s choice: “Yes, this is what they wanted.”
We urge everyone to register to become an organ/tissue donor with the online Illinois Organ/Tissue Donor Registry through the Illinois secretary of state’s office or at any secretary of state facility. Or visit giftofhope.org to learn more about us and how donation works, and find a link to state donor registries.
Organ donation is not about ending life early — it is about ensuring life continues for others.
— Dr. Harry Wilkins, president and CEO, Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network
Permitting reform urgency
The article “Grain Belt Express sparks high emotions” (Aug. 24) was a great introduction to a pivotal issue that will help define our nation’s future. Data centers and artificial intelligence are using huge amounts of electricity to power the largest area of growth in our economy. Power generation must keep up with this growing demand, which will grow only larger as industry and homeowners discover that electrification offers major cost and climate benefits.
America has grown so good at using the legal system to stop major projects that our ability to build the transmission lines to move all this incremental power is in doubt. Congress keeps promising to work on permitting reform, to shorten the time to approve major projects while still doing proper due diligence, for the past few years. We need to tell our members of Congress that this is the year to move on that reform before our grid becomes much more expensive and less reliable.
— Jonathan Berman, Elmhurst
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