Al Zielinski Sends Mailing
Grafton Township Assessor candidate Al Zielinski, running against incumbent Bill Ottley, has sent another campaign mailing. You wee it below.
And, if you are an Algonquin, Grafton or Nunda Township candidate and want others to see your mailings, email them to me. The email address is on the left hand side of the screen.
Alan Zielinski for Grafton Township Assessor
Dear fellow Grafton Township neighbor,
Improve the fairness of your property assessments with your vote for me on February 26th.
You deserve accurate property assessments and shouldn’t have to appeal to get them.
Your choice is simple.
- Vote for me, get timely & accurate assessments and respect every time you interact with my office.
- Don’t vote, the incumbent wins and the wildly inaccurate assessments (and need to appeal) continue.
“We in America do not have government by the majority.
We have government by the majority who participate.”
Thomas Jefferson
We have government by the majority who participate.”
Thomas Jefferson
You deserve an honorable employee because you pay the salary.
I promise to be fair.
- In 2009, the incumbent’s personal parcel had no change but Grafton Township went up 3%!
- In 2011, the incumbent’s personal parcel decreased 24% but Grafton Township increased 4%!
I promise no nepotism or favoritism.
- The month after he took office, the incumbent hired his wife and daughter. He later hired his other daughter.
- Between 12/31/2005 and 12/31/2012 alone, his family accounted for 21% of the Assessor office’s payroll!
You deserve a hard-working certified appraiser as your assessor.
The benefit of the deeper education is the ability to generate fair and accurate assessments. The benefit of the state and federal certification is the mandate for conformity to much stricter regulations. Below is a brief recap of why a certified appraiser makes a better assessor. One taxpayer’s perspective is on reverse side of this note.
USPAP = Uniform Standards of Professional Appraiser Practice.
Sincerely,
Please make your voice heard on 2/26 by voting for me.
Alan Zielinski
Al Zielinski says:
“I promise to be fair.
In 2009, the incumbent’s personal parcel had no change but Grafton Township went up 3%!
In 2011, the incumbent’s personal parcel decreased 24% but Grafton Township increased 4%!”
In 2011, Al and his girlfriend appealed the assessment on their 3200 sq ft home on a 1.5 acre lake-front lot, and got it dropped from $610,362 to $288,060. That’s decrease of 53%. Mr. Ottley’s assessment dropped $53,000… Al’s assessment dropped $322,302! That’s more than SIX TIMES the reduction in Mr. Ottley’s property!
Some of his neighbors with comparable properties were assessed $582,084 and $529,203.
When asked about it, Al repeated tries to explain how he feels this is fair and accurate.
I ask you, if you were Al’s neighbor, would you feel if this was either fair or accurate?
Then, to top it all off… Al had the audacity to appeal his assessment AGAIN this year!
1Agreed Jack, and Al Zielinski presented an assessment of his girlfriend’s property to the Board of Review WITHOUT disclosing he was living at the property, which was ethically inappropriate despite Zielinski’s words that the Board of Review did not use his assessment to set the value of the property!
And, he was still accepting an owner-occupied homeowner’s exemption in Lake County nearly a year after he had moved in with his girlfriend at the Lakewood property (and changed his voter registration to that Lakewood address in Grafton Township so he can run for assessor). Only The First Electric Newspaper (FEN) reporting it did Zielinski call it a “mistake”.
Seeing Zielinski’s utter defeat on Tuesday will be a testament that the Grafton Township Republican primary voters want an honorable man as their assessor.
2Oh, and the biggest lie of all in that mailer — the charge about incumbent Bill Ottley hiring his wife —
WRONG!
Ottley did NOT hire his wife.
She had been working in the assessor’s office for quite some time before Ottley took office as assessor in 1990.
He *retained* her, yes, but did not hire her into the office.
An honorable man would have made the distinction clear.
3Don’t forget Al – Assessor Ottley has about 24 years of experience on you as the Assessor.
In terms of hours that you like to use:
Thats about 49,920 hours of on the job experience!
You have worked in an assessors office for ZERO HOURS!
Heck, have you even visited the Grafton Township Assessors Office for an hour before you decided to try and get the job?
He is also a level three CIAO not just the lowest level that you and Linda have obtained. Which by the way – you said you only took one class to get?
How is that appraisal business of yours going? Feel free to insert any of the 4 or 5 business names you use? I was just curious. Bet you can’t wait to get a steady paycheck! Well you may have to wait a bit longer, because this election belongs to Assessor Ottley.
4I heard a funny story showing how AL keeps his promises…
We all know he was giving away FREE APPRAISALS and ASSESSMENT HELP at his food pantry drive at Sammys, and my friend Henry was the winner of one of his “prizes”
They made an appointment with Mr Zielinski and Micheleane (spelling?) to handle their appeal/appraisal, and then they had to reschedule. When they called to reschedule, they were told that MR. ZIELINSKI was too busy with his election, and did not have time to help them?
So where did Henry go? You guessed it, he went to Assessor Ottley and his staff MADE TIME to help him. They made time to help Henry.
SO AL – Explain to me how you are going to keep campaign promises when you can’t even fulfill one promise to one guy that won one of your FREE raffle prizes?
WAY TO GO AL! Guess you were hoping no one would actually want to cash in on your Freebies huh?
Sorry Henry….but glad you got the help you needed!
5I stand by my honor.
The same posters raising the same points that were previously raised and adequately addressed/resolved in previous posts…
For example:
http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2013/02/05/the-al-zielinski-pamphlet-promoting-candidacy-for-grafton-township-assessor/
The Board of Review set the assessment based on an arm’s length sale; their decision had nothing to do with me.
The reason an appeal was necessary was because the incumbent was asleep and didn’t realize an arm’s length sale had occurred.
Continuing to raise dead, baseless points is being done only to create static and detract from the real issues facing Grafton voters.
Storm continues to display his ignorance and lack of credibility.
Evidence was provided to all media outlets along with my press release clearly showed no members of the Ottley family were employed by the Assessor’s office in 1989, the year before the incumbent took office.
The evidence clearly shows that, once he took office, 3 to 4 family members were on consistently the assessor’s payroll from 1990 through 2011. These years were the only ones obtained via the FOIA request.
1990: 3
1991: 4
1992: 4
1993: 2
1994: 1
1995: 3
1996: 4
1998: 3
2005 through 2012: 3
I will gladly provide all evidence behind my claims to anyone requesting it via e-mail from my web site.
It’s easy to see why the incumbent refused my FOIA request for the names of his family members that had been employed by his office.
Grafton Township deserves better!
6So AL it looks like you are calling Assessor Ottleys wife a liar about the fact that she worked in the Assessors office before Mr Ottley?
7All valid points and a common theme, is a lot of finger pointing in all these little fiefdoms.
So why are McHenry Voters insistent, on keeping this rediculous carnival, of 17 different Townships?
We are paying for these 17 different kingdoms along with the County Government.
Yet we complain about McHenry County being in the top 25 highest taxed counties in the Nation! (Tax Foundation Stats)
Is it because there are now so many of these folks on this Township dole and entrenched in this archaic and expensive Township layer of government, that they outnumber the ability of Voters to eliminate?
I posed this question of potential Township elimination to a Trustee Candidate, who not only didn’t understand the form of Government she was running for (although her bio purports her to have been mentored in Springfield, whatever), but was more concerned that Cal had gotten her age wrong in a heading(Cal changed heading from 21-22). Geez!
Unless of course McHenry Voters enjoy this soap opera. I already pay Cable TV to watch nonsense if I wish. I don’t need to pay twice in my Tax Bill every year.
As Howard Beale would say: “This is mass madness you maniacs”.
8It appears Curious works in the assessor’s office and is worried about his job…
His “friend Henry” is related to one winner of our feed the hungry raffle.
What Curious didn’t convey about the matter is:
– the property owner was hesitant to have an appraisal performed because they converted the loft to a bedroom without a permit increasing the dwelling’s functional utility and
– three inspection dates were canceled by the property owner, two only hours before the arranged time.
Conclusion:
+ I perform honest, USPAP-compliant appraisals and
+ can only do so if the property owner keeps at least one prearranged appointment.
A related issue Curious fails to mention is another winner of our help the hungry raffle showed how far off the assessor’s numbers are and why the voters should act on Tuesday:
our appeal on their behalf secured a savings of almost $44,000 in market value!
More static to detract from the real issues facing Grafton Township voters.
Keep bringing-on the lies and I’ll keep knocking the down…
9I don’t call people names.
I legally obtain data and base my communication on data not innuendo, conjecture or outright lies.
If you have data to the contrary, post it.
The editor of this blog and other media outlets already have mine.
10Does not work for the assessor, has a nice job, with a steady paycheck, and lots of customers that like him.
What I don’t like – is when people run for office that moved here to do so, have no idea what the job is, or what it even entails because they do not have experience in the job. Assessing thousands of properties every year is not like appraising one or two a week?
Your entire campaign has been to smear others. Your entire campaign has been filled with shady behavior. Your entire campaign will come to an end soon.
11And AL – Lot’s of houses will drop 44K in market value if you file an appeal…
Just look at your girlfriends house… it dropped what? about 300K didn’t it?
All of the houses in Grafton should drop the 10% increase that the county added!
All people have to do is go through the appeal process and many of them will drop in value.
12What Al is repeatedly calling an “arm’s length” sale was actually a foreclosure purchase from the bank/real estate.
Also, he conveniently didn’t comment on the comparable values of his neighbors homes…
13Next Wednesday if you are still looking for a job, the car dealership is hiring for a used car salesman.
That sounds like a better fit for you.
14Above, Al states that he doesn’t call people names… here’s a few examples of how he DOES treat people…
“Nonetheless, I’m glad my post brought some levity to your life.
The axiom “Simple minds, simple pleasures.” rings perfectly true in your case.”
“Looks like remedial reading isn’t the poster’s only fertile ground for education!”
“I refuse to continue mental combat with an unarmed opponent.”
“Your free education at my expense now ceases.”
“In your trite little world, that’s a memorable victory; savor it because it’s likely one of the few delusions of yours that are harmless.”
“For the literate readers of this blog, of which there are many, below are a few closing clarifications.”
“Wasting tax dollars “training” people to compensate for and correct his (Bill Ottley) laziness is not an admirable undertaking.”
15I’ll stand by any comment I made when it’s kept in context.
It’s a cheap political trick quoting outside of context and one that unbiased Grafton residents will quickly see through.
16Tell me, Al, in what context does “simple minds, simple pleasures”, “remedial reading … only fertile ground for education”, “mental combat with an unarmed opponent”, “one of the few delusions of yours”, and “laziness” have a positive, respectful tone?
The unbiased Grafton residents have seen through YOUR cheap political tricks… I’ve yet to see a positive comment towards you not written by your girlfriend.
17Like I said, keep posting lies and misinformation and I’ll keep knocking them down.
Grafton taxpayers deserve the truth, a clean office and someone willing to work hard for them rather than asking them to do the assessor’s work by appealing.
“I’ve yet to see a positive comment towards you not written by your girlfriend.”
Here’s one from an unbiased, highly-educated Grafton resident that was recently posted in the Northwest Herald.
All submittals require a name and phone number for confirmation.
To: ‘letters@nwherald.com’
Subject: Al Zielinski for Grafton Township Assessor-Northwest Herald Letter to the Editor
Accurate property assessments are the foundation for every tax levy and for too long the system has been broken. Assessments are overstated and the reduction in assessed value for those who appeal is transferred to those who have not appealed. On February 26th, we have opportunity to change this broken process by electing Al Zielinski as Grafton Township Assessor.
Eminently qualified as a Certified Illinois Assessment Officer and Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser, Al’s experience is second only to his ethical standards and sense of moral responsibility. Al’s dedication to community service and commitment to the property owners of Grafton Township is exemplified by his commitment to donate a portion of his salary as our assessor to the Grafton Food Pantry.
Please join me on February 26th in supporting Al Zielinski, a man who I trust will selflessly dedicate himself to our fair and accurate property tax assessments.
18Eliminate all of these problems and falsehoods if they are and keep BILL OTTLEY in office. Why change course when you have the best in the race?
19Gee, Al, that makes one.
Evidently he must be a friend of yours, since he copied you on his email submission…
20There’s a “To” but not a cc on the e-mail….
Ah ha; it was copied from the Northwest Herald!
There are many more but they don’t feel the need to have their support validated prior to the election.
I have complete confidence the people will make their voices and dissatisfaction loudly heard via the final count Tuesday evening.
21Al, will you be disbanding or selling all of your businesses in order to be a full time assessor?
Or will you take the tack of Marty Waitzman, continuing to run his legal and accounting practices, and being part time at the township?
22Sorry, Al, but the NWHerald doesn’t format emails to the editor like that… And BCC doesn’t show up in email headers, or you could have deleted that part…
Besides, Mike Smith is a fellow Lakewood politician…
23Have already stated numerous times and places that the assessor’s position would be full-time for me.
24AL – Will your girlfriend/significant other (whose name begins with an M) be running assessmentbusters and rent-a-coo should you get elected?
25What possible difference does that make and how could it even remotely influence my candidacy?
My commitment to taking the position as full-time has been repeatedly made.
I won’t waste people’s time responding to untenable, trivial issues.
26I wonder the same thing AL.
Too many irons in the fire mean you might be spreading yourself too thin.
I read that you bring your lady on assessment jobs with you.
Is M. in training to run your affairs when you are at the Grafton office?
Did she help out when you assessed her property?
27Oh Al Zielinski, still trying to fight your battles on blogs when the real work to win the election is out in the streets. And displaying one of your ghost-written letters as sign you have real support in the community does not impress us. You have no true grassroots of support, only astroturf phony, as Tuesday’s election results will show.
I have exposed your phonyness time and again, you cannot deny my real credibility. Come Tuesday, the primary voters will show you without any doubt that I have been right about you all along. Can’t get here fast enough.
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