Cook County Assessor- Joseph Berrios

I’m probably in the minority but I had a very pleasant visit to their office. I came in with a person in a wheelchair and they immediately seated us and didn’t make us go up to the counter — the clerk came to us. She asked how she could help and I explained the situation. She took our information and came back a few minutes later with the forms — we signed them and got a printout and were on our way. Our problem was solved pleasantly and professionally in under 20 minutes.

No. They do not understand they are working on tax payers dime.
30 minutes wait to talk to a moron.
Cook County assessor champ, Omar asked me to contact these people.
Called them. A lady called Yvonne asked me to call the assessor’s office. I told her i was sent to them.
She was even worse than the assessor champ i had talked to. God knows what training these people go through. I asked a property tax related question about three years (i had never gotten an exemption as a primary resident)…she told me I was throwing some numbers at random.
Man, i had to swallow my pride and stay calm as i did not want to hang up and call again, and wait 30 minutes again to talk to another moron.
Eventually she answered my question. I told her i appreciated her and she did a good job. I really wanted to talk to her supervisor too but at the end i am a softy with no intention to cause anyone any problems… but what a waste of money. Who hires these people? They do not know the least about customer service.

Voice message included Jim Houlihan’s name, not Joe Barrios.
Waited on hold nearly 10 minutes.
Once off hold, employee answered the phone with a simple hello (in a tone that indicated my call would not be productive).
I asked about the amount of my tax bill and why it was not lowered based on my successful 2012 property tax appeal, which reduced our 2012 assessor final assessment to 14,353 from a 2012 proposed 15,202 (2011 assessment was 19,017).
The male employee explained (in an condescending manner) that appeals have no impact on 1^st Installment tax bills. I asked him why that was, and he refused to answer my question, only pointing me to the tax calculator at the «top right corner» of my bill. However, I completely understand how the bill was calculated; that was not my question. My question was why my first assessment bill would be so high when my assessment has gone down SIGNIFICANTLY from 2011 to 2012.
He also explained to me (again curtly and rudely) that the assessment is not the only factor involved in calculating the property tax bill. I understand the importance of the rate, but there is no way that we should have to pay 55% of our 2011 tax bill when our assessment has gone down 25%. He said the 2^nd Installment will take into account other factors, such as our appeal, but just kept telling me our taxes might not go down… let’s say, for the sake of argument, that is true. EXPLAIN TO ME WHY… don’t just say the rate. And he said, «we have done everything we can for you. We have nothing to do with any of those other things.»
He was the least helpful, most combative (right out of the gate) person I’ve ever dealt with in government. It was unreal.
But this guy had what almost seemed to be a predetermined script that he was going to stick to no matter what question I asked. He never offered to help me find a better person to answer my question.