Chicago City Wire

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Senate Bill 1675, which makes the sale of property for unpaid taxes optional, allowing counties to control tax-delinquent property without offering bidding on so-called "salvage sales."

Pritzker's administration said the new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, "cuts the interest rate on delinquent property taxes in half, closes numerous sale in error loopholes, makes scavenger tax sales optional, and designates counties as holders of all tax liens forfeited to the county or State."

Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer and the Chicago Community Trust, which counts Pritzker's brother-in-law Brian Traubert as a vice chairman of its executive committee, each made public pleas for the governor to approve the legislation.

"With Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature, this measure promises to unleash investment in Black and Latinx neighborhoods with the highest rates of vacant or abandoned land. Cook County alone contains 50,000 vacant properties, mostly concentrated on the south and west sides of Chicago, and in the south suburbs," Chicago Community Trust CEO Andrea Sáenz wrote in a Crain's Chicago op-ed.

Gainer, who also serves as Land Bank chairperson, has said the new law would shorten the amount of time the Cook County Land Bank can acquire about 30,000 properties awaiting sale for delinquent taxes.

The Cook County Land Bank was formed by the Cook County Board in 2013 to "address the large inventory of vacant residential, industrial and commercial property. Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle appoints a 17-member board of directors to govern what is billed as the "largest land bank by geography in the country."

The Land Bank operates "independently" to accomplish its mission: "to acquire, hold, and transfer interest in real property throughout Cook County to: promote redevelopment and reuse of vacant, abandoned, foreclosed or tax-delinquent properties; support targeted efforts to stabilize neighborhoods; stimulate residential, commercial and industrial development- all in ways that are consistent with goals and priorities established by local government partners and other community stakeholders."

In December, federal prosecutors charged a former Land Bank employee with running a 5-year scheme to recruit people to pose as independent buyers to purchase six Land Bank properties on his behalf. Mustafaa Saleh pleaded guilty to one-count of wire fraud.

In June, a law firm contracted to audit the Land Bank found the agency had operated without its own in-house legal council.

Also, the Land Bank, which is overseen by Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle, lacked processes for formally documenting the purchase, maintenance and sale of tax-delinquent property.

The Land Bank also did not provide the public adequate access to public information regarding the authority's core functions, including how it acquires salvaged properties, the report states.

Nearly all the Land Banks' properties are acquired through scavenge sales, which under the newly signed law are no longer required.