F: Ronald E. Osman and Gary Mayer

F ) Unusual tax assessment shift between parcels absent any sale or physical change to property / Ronald E. Osman and Gary Mayer

  1. In July of 2005, Ronald E. Osman ( City Of Marion attorney and a land developer ) and Gary Mayer ( auto dealership and golf course developer ) purchased a tract of land comprised of three tax parcels in Marion, Illinois from Stephen J. Pessin, Trustee of River Land Trust. ( see documents referred to as Exhibit F )

  2. The property included the Blue Cross/Blue Shield building and is located on the corner of Skyline Drive and Route 13 on the west side of Marion.

  3. Courthouse documents reflect a purchase price of $ 800,000.00 for this property, although court recorded mortgages filed on this property the same date reflect a much higher amount. (Two of the three parcels transferred ownership from a Wohlwend, but deeds were not readily uncovered.)

  4. The assessed fair cash value for the 2005/2006 tax year totaled $ 1,313,319.00.

  5. The Williamson County Tax Assessor did not reassess the property. In fact, the tax assessor never reassessed this property from 2005 through the 2010/2011 tax year.

  6. In February of 2008, Osman and Mayer transferred the property into the name of one of their limited liability corporations. ( CERRADO, LLC. )

  7. In March of 2008 the City of Marion entered into a twelve million dollar TIF district development agreement with Ronald E. Osman and Gary Mayer and created the SKYLINE TIF district for this property. This development agreement sets aside into a special account for the developer 75% of TIF funds, in this case, for Ronald E.Osman and Gary Mayer.

  1. In 2011/2012 the Williamson County Tax Assessor inexplicably shifted the assessed value of one of the parcels ( PIN 06-15-101-001 from a fair cash value at $ 1,468,020.00 to a fair cash value of $ 566,553.00 ), and shifted the assessed value of another of the parcels ( PIN 06-15-101-004 from fair cash value of $ 102,240.00 to a fair cash value of $ 574,962.00 ) and shifted the assessed value of the remaining parcel ( PIN 06-15-101-002 from a fair cash value of $ 60,150.00 to a fair cash value of $ 78,105.00 ). This effectively reduced the total assessed fair cash value of the property to only $ 1,219,620.00 for the 2011/2012 tax year.

  2. As Google aerial photos verify, there do not appear to be any physical changes in the property in 2011.. The large building was still in place.

  3. However, the percentage of tax monies deflecting to TIF skyrockets from a very negligible 1% to 55% on one parcel and to an unexplained 84% on another in both the 2011/2012 and the 2012/2013 tax bills.

  4. In 2013 the huge Blue Cross/Blue Shield building has been demolished. A new frontage road is in the works and Route 13 has been widened to six lanes by IDOT.

  1. Outside of the obvious, ( school district being cut from $ 18,000.00 in tax revenue down to $ 9,000.00 in tax revenue from this highly unusual and unexplained shifting of fair cash value assessments by the tax assessor for this developer’s property ) the total damage to the taxpayers of Williamson County is unclear.

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