Will County officials review process after two seniors’ exemptions were not applied to tax bills

A Will County assessment official told the county executive committee on June 12 that two senior property tax exemptions submitted to his office were scanned into records but never entered into the county property database, causing the exemptions not to appear on residents’ bills.

The error was explained by Dale Butello, chief county assessment officer, who said, "we mis processed that thing" after describing a two‑step office workflow in which staff both scan an application and separately key exemption fields into the assessment system. Butello said the scanned image existed but the database fields were not populated, and his office discovered two similar cases over the last two years.

The issue matters because Will County’s certificate-of-error process lets the assessment office correct admitted errors for property assessments and exemptions only through roughly Nov. 1 of the tax year; after that point the assessments are confirmed in court and corrections require different remedies. "That process typically goes until right around November 1," Butello said, adding that the county will cut off certificate-of-error work on Oct. 31 this year because Nov. 1 falls on a weekend.

Why it matters: A missed senior exemption can increase a household’s bill for the year in which the exemption should have applied. Committee members pressed staff on whether the county could proactively notify taxpayers that an exemption application was received and processed, or otherwise add safeguards to prevent scanning-without-entry mistakes.

Board members proposed several responses: a cross‑reference report to match scanned exemption documents to entered records, improved quality control in the assessment office, a brief written acknowledgement to taxpayers when they apply, and coordination with the treasurer’s office about notice language on the printed tax bill. Butello said staff are discussing a vendor report that would flag scanned-but-not-entered exemptions so a staffer could verify entries.

Several members also asked whether the county could reimburse affected residents. Commissioner Jim Hickey urged the board to consider making whole residents when the error causes financial hardship. Butello and others said state statute and court timelines limit the county’s ability to retroactively change an assessment once the file is finalized for tax sale. State’s Attorney Mary Tetrault told the committee that "it is controlled by state statute," and explained that statutory deadlines exist to allow governments to rely on final assessments.

What staff said they will do: Butello told the committee his office will pursue a report option with their vendor to cross‑check scanned files against database entries, continue existing quality‑control reviews and meet with county leadership to consider whether targeted mailings or notices could be integrated with treasurer processes. Committee members asked for follow‑up reporting and for staff to meet one‑on‑one with members who requested it.

Context and scale: Butello said Will County holds roughly 280,000 parcels; about 205,000 parcels receive at least one exemption and roughly 53,000 receive a senior exemption. In the last two years his office identified two cases in which the exemption was scanned but not entered; one of those was the committee member’s property discussed at the meeting.

Next steps: Committee members asked Butello to return with a short work plan showing the vendor report option, any required staffing changes, and a plan for coordinating notification language with the treasurer’s office. No formal motion or directive to pay affected residents was adopted at the meeting.