Shelby County – Supervisor of Assessments – Rules? Who Needs Rules?

Shelby Co. (ECWd) –

The Shelby County Supervisor of Assessments Debbie Dunnaway is supposed to be the one who knows and understands all the ins and outs of the property assessment process, to include corrections needed when errors are made.  Last year we saw local propagandists bashing the former State’s Attorney when he took steps to have the Supervisor of Assessments bond revoked without any actual knowledge as to the reasoning behind it.

The question was simple, why would you want the bond removed?

Information was provided to the Insurance Bonding agency as justification for the revocation of her bond.

“1. That the Shelby County Supervisor of Assessments has maintained a system of using Certificates of Error that are either pre-signed by Board of Review Members without the assessment changes included or that employees of the Supervisor of Assessments have signed the names of the Board of Review members as if they were signing the documents With this system the Board of Review is not acting as an independent review of the Supervisor of Assessments.
2. The Documents that constitute the COE’s either pre-signed or signed by others on behalf a Board of Review members meet the definition of forgery under the Illinois Criminal Statutes in that they are false documents purporting to be the result of a process signed by the individual members of the Board of Review.” (emphasis added) (Communication from the SA to the Bonding Company)

It turns out the entire board was informed of this improper practice by the former State’s Attorney.  To date we have not heard a word from the County Board on this matter.

“During my term of office, I came to learn, (outside of the grand jury) that a scheme and artifice to avoid the Board of Review existed.  That artifice was facilitated by the intentional falsification of Certificates of Error whereby the Clerks in the Sup. Ass. Office either signed Certificates of Error on behalf of the Board of Review Members or the clerk used pre-signed blank forms circumventing the entire BOR process.    After I began looking into this practice, I believe the practice ended.  I also believe the creation of the false documents was the product of ignorance and not of a criminal intent.  Thus, I declined to commence criminal prosecution of the Supervisor of Assessments.  I cannot disclose the substance of the Grand Jury Testimony or the Grand Jury’s investigation.  Suffice to say I believe the new State’s Attorney can review the material available to determine if she wishes to elect to advance a charge. ” (emphasis added)

The Board of Review, (BoR) is supposed to be a backstop for improper assessments and other errors made by the local assessor or the Supervisor of Assessments.  Why was the Board of Review not doing their job?  I ask that because in May of 2023 I requested a copy of all agendas and minutes for the Board of Review meetings where they took action to approve the Board of Review Rules for the last 5 years.  Adoption of rules has taken place once in the last 5 years.  (Agenda and minutes at this link)

According to Dunaway, the BoR of review did not send out any notice of hearings even though they received 26 complaints from property owners during the time in question, 2022. The rules outlined key obligations for the board of review such as sending out notifications of hearings. If a person failed to attend the hearing it could be grounds for dismissing their complaint.  According to Dunaway, the BoR did not send out any notice of hearings even though they received complaints, and the adopted rules required notification by the Board of Review.  The law also requires the applicable notice.

(35 ILCS 200/16-55)
Sec. 16-55. Complaints.”……”If the complainant complies with the board of review rules either upon the initial filing of a complaint or within the time as extended by the board of review for compliance, then the board of review shall send, electronically or by mail, a notice of hearing and the board shall hear the complaint and shall issue and send, electronically or by mail, a decision upon resolution……”. 

From the looks at things as a whole, it appears the past Board of Review was collecting their $10,000.00 in compensation and not doing their job as they should have.

Reading the rules adopted by the BoR it’s no wonder Shelby County is probably the most dysfunctional county we have ever witnessed.

“Any board of review member may conduct a hearing”

Since when does a single board member of any public body have the power to conduct a hearing?  How do you do that without a majority?  The rules outline they must comply with OMA, yet this very rule indicates they are approving violating OMA. What does the law say?

(35 ILCS 200/6-50)
    Sec. 6-50. Majority vote. Board of review action may be taken by a majority vote of the board.
(Source: P.A. 76-1322; 88-455.)

“AMENDEMENTS. The rules may be amended from time to time, said amendments are effective upon being posted.”

WRONG. They become effective when the Board meets and votes to approve amendments.

“NOTICES OF HEARINGS. Notices of the BOR hearing will be sent by mail, email, to the complainant”

Both the law and their own rules indicate notices of hearing will be sent yet Dunaway confirmed, no notices of the BOR hearings were sent for the time frame in question.

Why were they not sent?  It appears that they created a way to circumvent the proper process and people in the Supervisor of Assessments office were signing the names of the BoR members on certificates of error.  While Dunaway claims they had permission to sign those people’s names, it begs the question why have a BoR if you’re cutting them out of the process?  Why were they collecting a paycheck if they were not doing the job they were required to do by law?

The prior State’s Attorney stated in his letter to the County Board, “I also believe the creation of the false documents was the product of ignorance and not of a criminal intent.”

Is that same ignorance a contributor as to why Lithia Springs Marina’s assessed value in 2022-2023 was only $30,704.00 and they only paid $2,554.12 in property tax for the 2022-2023 tax year?

Stay tuned for more on Lithia Springs Marina that ties back to our FOIA lawsuit we won against the Army Corp of Engineers.