In South Barrington, Illinois, a significant issue has emerged as millions of dollars in Cook County property tax refunds remain stalled due to a computer system upgrade delay. One resident, Sherry Schnell, is among those affected, with over $9,000 owed to her. However, her refund issues predate the recent system complications.

Sherry Schnell, who owns a home in South Barrington, has finally received the necessary signed certificates of error, a crucial step towards resolving her tax refund issue.

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“The issue now is that they haven’t started disbursing any funds,” Schnell expressed.

She has been anticipating a refund of more than $9,000 since an ABC7 I-Team report highlighted her case of a square-footage error a year ago.

“I believe we are entitled to this refund. It’s only fair because we paid money that we shouldn’t have,” Schnell stated.

So, what’s the holdup? Cook County leaders now blame the county’s computer upgrade, which the treasurer says has jammed up more than $84 million in property tax refunds to more than 37,000 homeowners. But Schnell’s battle began years ago, when she noticed that homes like hers had lower county assessments and even larger homes had lower assessments.

In our October 2024 report, the I-Team and the deputy assessor at the Barrington Township assessor’s office helped to prove that the Cook County assessor inaccurately stated that Schnell had almost 300 more square feet in her home, making her tax bills bigger.

In May of this year, Schnell still was not seeing her money.

“They weren’t issuing the certificates of errors,” Schnell said.

So, the I-Team inquired with the county assessor and the Cook County Board of Review.

Cook County Board of Review Commissioner of the First District George Cardenas says after the I-Team started asking questions, he reached out to the Cook County Assessor’s Office.

ABC7 Consumer Investigator Jason Knowles asked him, “You’re saying the board of review did not have those certificates of error?”

“We did not. We did not,” Cardenas responded.

“And we pushed it along. Then, those certificates of error were processed and signed,” Cardenas continued. “You guys are awesome. And just in sort of pushing folks in, you know, holding people accountable, I mean, you know, when it has to be aired out and, you know, there’s nothing like a TV camera to kind of, you know, put the lens on and the problem.”

The assessor’s office says the process can be slow and said it had to complete another field inspection on Schnell’s home.

“We sincerely empathize with the homeowner. We understand her frustration. This can be a frustrating process,” said Cook County Assessor’s Office Chief Communications Officer Angelina Romero. “I just want to emphasize, it’s not this person, that person or office, it’s the function of the process. The certificate of error to make corrections. They have to be approved by both offices. So, we can’t… We need each other, right, to push these through and to process them.”

But the delay in getting Schnell’s money continues because of the delay with the Cook County computer upgrade.

In July, The I-Team told you about the massive delays and finger-pointing between county offices and the private company, Tyler Technologies, completing that upgrade. ABC7 found that the county paid Tyler Technologies close to $29 million over a 10-year period. And the I-Team found the company’s business license was revoked in April for failing to file an annual report with the state, but it was recently reinstated. Tyler Technologies told the I-Team it was due to an administrative processing error and that, “Our teams continue to work diligently with the county on all aspects of the software transition and implementation.”

For now, taxpayers like Schnell can only look at certificates of error and wait.

“Maybe they hope we are going to give up, but I am not going to give up because what’s fair is fair,” Schnell said.

The computer upgrade mess is also holding back millions of dollars in property tax payments to 2,200 taxing agencies relying on the revenue. The delays are also slowing down the second installment property tax bills from being issued. They were supposed to be out months ago. There is a chance the bills could be out in November or December, but at this point, it is anybody’s guess.