UPDATE 1:50 p.m. by Hal Dardick and John Byrne — Berrios, Madigan and review board members say Houlihan is to blame; originally posted at 10:11 a.m.
Cook County Assessor James Houlihan started a new round in a war of words with some of his fellow Democrats today by accusing another top county official of trying to delay the arrival of bad-news property tax bills until after the Nov. 2 election.
Houlihan, who is retiring, held a news conference today to make the allegation against Joseph Berrios, a commissioner on the three-member tax Board of Review who is running for Houlihan’s job in the November general election. Berrios is also the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party and an ally of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who Houlihan has often clashed with over tax issues.
Houlihan said Berrios is slowing the work of the review board to make sure Cook County voters aren’t angered before the election by higher tax bills. A cap on property-tax assessments will end in the city this year and is being phased out in the suburbs. Those caps have have limited property tax increases for many homeowners.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said Houlihan is trying to deflect attention from his own failure to complete assessments.
"Speaker Madigan has nothing to do with the assessment process," Brown said. "Assessor Houlihan has apparently fumbled the ball again. If he wants somebody to blame for any delay, he should look in the mirror."
At a news conference to respond to Houlihan’s allegations, Berrios blamed the assessor for delays in the process of determining the tax bills. He said Houlihan has wrongly assessed a large number of properties, leading to a potentially heavy volume of appeal cases.
Berrios said he has not discussed with Madigan or anyone else the possibility of delaying the tax bills until after the election. He said he would love to get the bills out before the election.
"(Houlihan) is trying to play politics with all the different taxing bodies and the effect that this will have on them," said Berrios, joined by Board of Review members Larry Rogers Jr. and Brendan Houlihan, who is not related to the assessor. "This is not — when you’re looking at the tax system, this is not something you play politics with. If you get it right the first time, then guess what, the Board of Review would not be hearing so many cases."
Under current law, all property tax appeals must be completed before tax rates can be set and bills mailed out to property owners.
Rogers said the board is still waiting for a Houlihan’s office to complete a significant amount of work so appeal hearings can be set. There’s "absolutely no truth" to Houlihan’s accusation, Rogers said.
The allegation comes amid a politically charged atmosphere.
Madigan opposes extending the so-called tax cap, something Houlihan has been asking the General Assembly to do for well more than a year.
Berrios won a three-way primary by a much narrower margin than might have been expected and County Board Commissioner Forrest Claypool, D-Chicago, is being put forward by some as a potential independent challenger. Houlihan and Claypool have been allies on many issues in the past.
Houlihan urged voters to think long and hard before voting for Berrios for Cook County Assessor. "Certainly, anybody who is involved with chicanery about the tax bills, the voters should give some serious thought to whether they should vote for him," Houlihan said.
He praised Claypool, but stopped short of directly endorsing Claypool’s rumored run for assessor.
"If (Claypool) does step in (to the race), it would be an important, I think, step for voters, but I think that’s up to him," Houlihan said. "You know, he’s a very thoughtful (Cook County) commissioner, and has been a very good public servant."
If Claypool wanted to run for assessor, he should have participated in the primary, Berrios said.
"If you look at the primary, (Houlihan) did not endorse me. I’m sure the assessor never wanted me to follow him down to the Assessor’s Office," Berrios said. "But guess what? I did win the primary, as a Democrat."
"Claypool is supposed to be a Democrat. He sits on the board as a Democrat," Berrios added. "But if he wants to run, he had the opportunity to run. Let him go out and get the signatures, as I did. If he wanted to run for the Assessor’s Office, he should have, number one, run in the Democratic primary, if he is a Democrat. He should have come out. It would have been a four-way race. Who knows what would have happened."
Claypool was not immediately available for comment.