BREWER ILLEGAL TAX BREAK FOLLOWING MONEY INTO HER POCKET

Bernice Brewer

SAUK VILLAGE OFFICIAL ILLEGAL TAX BREAK

by Joachim Mahomes

Here we go again Sauk Village!  As Sauk Village residents struggle with a pandemic and staggering property taxes, another politically connected official is caught with an illegal tax break.  Remember back in September, 2012 when a certain ex-mayor fraudulently claimed a homeowner’s property tax exemption for his homes here in Sauk Village and his other home in Chicago? He was suspended from his job at the time with the Cook County Assessor and ultimately resigned as Mayor.   At that time the now ex-mayor returned the $4,100 in property taxes he owed.  Now we find another Village official ran for mayor herself in 2013 now wants you to vote her back in as a Trustee.  Could this person suffer the same fate or at least the resident of Sauk Village can turn her away at the polls in April?  How can residents "trust" her?

 

Controversial Trustee Bernice Brewer, seems to habitually take on several bad traits of former disgraced elected officials.  Brewer lied about her sworn support of a fellow candidate after they were successfully elected and sworn in in 2019.  This Trustee joined their alliance with the deposed ex-mayor’s “friends” and are now known collectively called the Fanatical Five Trustees.  Our investigative efforts have sadly hit the jackpot once again, and we will see if the supporters of this Trustee who railed on the disgraced ex-Mayor are going to rail on Brewer this time for the same exact thing.  The shame is now on Brewer for violating the law and her fate is up to the people of Sauk Village.   

 

In 2015, Bernice Brewer, then referring to herself as Bernice Brewer-Houston, was facing apparent “financial” hardship and allowed her mortgage to become $55,361.76 delinquent on her home at 910 Laura Lane in Sauk Village according to public records.  The lender generously modified the terms of the agreement to a modest 40 year mortgage totaling $129,177.44!  This elected official then apparently leased out or rented her property and relocated to a double-wide trailer at 187 Blue Jay in Weatherstone’s Mobile Home Park according to a March 27, 2017 Sauk Talk article and according to nomination papers filed with the Village Clerk.  However further investigation revealed that the trailer home sold on June 16, 2015 for $28,500 MLS ID: #08599986.  Public records also show that Brewer has been claiming her homeowner’s exemption on their non-owner occupied property for the past 4 years while owning and living at another location resulting in reduced property taxes in the amount of $6,100 and about $1500 owed to Sauk Village directly based on calculations.  Sound familiar yet?  

 

Sauk Village’s Attorney Burt Odelson was quoted in a recent news article about another crooked politician “You see that from time to time with politicians,” Odelson said. “They vote out of one, and they have a fake home, and they get caught taking a homestead exemption, which is a crime.”  Brewer is registered to vote at her address on Blue Jay and not a property she rents out in Sauk Village.  

 

The Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office has a whistleblowing online program.  “When someone gets an undeserved break on taxes, you pay more than fair share.  If you know that a property is improperly receiving an exemption, tell us”. Their website is:  http://whistleblowing.cookcountyassessor.com/

 

How ironic it is that Bernice Brewer repeatedly proclaims at every board meeting, “a Trustee’s job is to follow the money”.  Well that was not a hard job for her, as we can see her watching the money fall right into her own pockets for the past 4 years four years now, the entire time they have been in elected office.  A violation of the Public Trust worthy of demands for her resignation as many did against the ex-Mayor from 2010 to 2012.    

 

This is the same elected official who advocated that a forensic audit be performed on the Village finances in hopes of embarrassing the current Mayor of Sauk Village the results of which showed no wrong doing but cost the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars; the very same elected official that continuously requests legal advice from the taxpayer paid law firm that made the quote above; the same elected official who has formally announced their bid to re-run for office and is now circulating her political pack of lies.  Many long-time residents do not support this person’s bid for re-election.  “If they are always falsely accusing another elected official of fraud while cheating the residents out of our money, why would anyone vote for them?”