Hynes v. Department of Revenue

PRESIDING JUSTICE SCARIANO

delivered the opinion of the court:

The action before us, which is actually the consolidation of 15 separate appeals, stems from an initiative of the Cook County assessor (Assessor) in 1987, when he formed a "Railroad Task Force” and charged it with the responsibility of ensuring that all properties owned by railroads and situated in Cook County which were required to be assessed by his office were in fact being so assessed. The impetus for the formation of the task force can be ascribed to the complex statutory and regulatory scheme for the assessment and taxation of…