10/20/11 – The Fox Lake City Council started the process of dealing with a mistake by their assessor that is leaving them about $300,000 short during their budget planning for 2012. Last month, Assessor Art Kind informed the council that the report he filed with the state on the TIF District’s valuation was nearly $16-million less than it should have been. The error wont effect the amount of money they can collect for taxes, but does impact the amount it gets from the TIF District. Kind filed an amended report with the state, meaning they’ll eventually see the money lost. But it will leave them short for 2012. In response, Don Rahn from the city’s accounting firm of Baker Tilly came to the committee of the whole meeting last night and outlined several plans to deal with the mistake. And the council tentatively decided to go with option number two, which according to Mayor Tom Bednarek will see the city borrow money to keep residents tax bills from fluctuating too much. Bednarek says the city is also beginning the process of finding a new assessor as they plan to let Kind’s contract expire at the end of the year.
