The Feb. 22 edition of Wednesday Journal had a “One View’ submission on Oak Park taxes written by Nile Wendorf. Associated with this article was a chart which stated that the information in the chart was “Courtesy of the OP Township Assessor’s Office.” This statement is misleading.
One of my goals as Oak Park Township assessor is to ensure that there is good, clear information in the public domain so that elected officials, taxpayers and voters can make well-informed decisions about matters of public interest as they relate to property taxes.
In furtherance of this goal, I have always been willing to meet with anyone interested in Oak Park tax issues and share with them the information compiled by my office. To encourage confidence in the fairness of the information I present, I do not endorse tax referendums or candidates for local office.
In keeping with my approach to public policy questions about taxes, I met with Nile Wendorf recently. During the meeting, I answered Nile’s questions and shared with him some tax information that my office had developed. Nile then used some of this information to write an opinion piece and to prepare the chart associated with it.
But I want to make it clear that the chart itself is Nile’s; it does not come from the Oak Park Township Assessor’s Office. The fact that some of the underlying data for the chart comes from my office should not be construed as an endorsement of the opinions in Nile’s article or the chart associated with it.
Ali ElSaffar
Oak Park Township Assessor
Editor’s note: Wednesday Journal regrets the misleading attribution.