Janet Muchnik

The Village of Park Forest was built in 1948 to house the GIs returning from World War II. Built on the "greenbelt" model, its shopping was centrally located in the Village. However, unlike the downtowns of the other greenbelt communities, the Park Forest Plaza was designed as a regional mall, one of the first in America. As such, it attracted shoppers, planners, journalists and tourists from all over.         

By the late 1970s, it had been eclipsed by malls located more strategically at highway intersections. By the 1980s, it had fallen on hard times and was largely vacant and deteriorated.         

During the 1970s, the Illinois Legislature adopted a school funding formula that obligated the State to provide matching funds to local school districts. Unfortunately, the State never fully funded the formula and school districts received varying amounts of the formula, each year. Some years they received 92% of the amount promised. Some years, they received 80%. Many school districts, Park Forest included, voted to tax themselves at a higher rate in order to fully fund their schools. As those districts soon learned, the State funding was reduced in proportion to the local effort. Thus, school districts did not benefit greatly from those referenda. However, with each new referendum, local tax rates increased.        

The repeated votes of support for the Park Forest schools coupled with the loss of commerce associated with the deal of the mall left Park Forest with a high tax rate and no commerce to support it. The burden of supporting the high tax rate fell primarily on residential property owners. However, for those few businesses left in the Village, Cook County's assessment practices tripled their burden.        

In 1995, the Village purchased the Park Forest Plaza and began the process of converting it into a traditional, main street downtown. A road system was created through the middle of the former, grassy mall. Parking lots were sold for dense, residential development including a senior citizen complex. A cultural arts center was created which houses an equity theater company, juried art gallery, art school and offices of a philharmonic orchestra. And, several of the individual buildings were sold.        

One of the first buildings sold was to the operator of the movie theater. The Village obtained an appraisal from a reputable appraisal company, Real Estate Research Associates, for $300,000, which is $ 10/square foot, a highly reasonable price for a building that had, largely, been a home for pigeons.

Last month, the new owner received his tax bill. The building was valued at $2,600,000 and the tax bill was for $326,000. The building owner will, probably, have no choice, but to walk away from the building. Once the word gets out about this tax bill, the Village will never sell another building.        

Of course, the owner has the option of fighting the assessment. The process takes two years. And, as you may know if you have followed the process, only certain attorneys art: respected in the Assessor's Office, only certain attorneys are successful in the appeals process and many of those attorneys charge a fee that is 50% of the savings obtained through the appeals process.        

As you can see, the problem was born in the State's method or funding schools. It is exacerbated by Cook County's method of assessing property. But, the result of these two factors is that older communities, like Park Forest, that are fighting to retain or expand their commercial base, cannot succeed.        

Something has to change. Communities like Park Forest, that have been supportive of education, cannot be allowed to die. The State's method of funding education has to change. Schools must be taken off their total dependency on property taxes.