Hillside Mayor rebuts allegations of campaign impropriety, rising property taxes

Hillside Mayor Joseph Tamburino rebuts allegations that Village Hall is being used to receive donations on behalf of the political organization Proviso Municipal League (PML).

“This question has been asked and answered in Freedom of Information requests by Hillside Forward,” Tamburino told Union Square Times.

Tamburino was responding to allegations lodged by the neighborhood group Hillside Forward that he had used two village government employees, Evelyn and Len Belmonte, to work on the incumbent's political campaign.

The Village made the determination that the PML is not a public body as defined by the Freedom of Information Act and that the records of the PML are not the records of the Village, according to documents obtained by Union Square Times.

“The bank account, event flyers, and other materials for PML were not maintained as part of any village records or databases and the funds of the PML were maintained in a separate bank account maintained by Mayor Tamburino as treasurer of the PML,” wrote Patrick Deady, attorney for the Village of Hillside in a July 23, 2020 letter to the Public Access Bureau in Springfield.

Mayor Tamburino also disputed a resident’s allegations that taxes had increased by 30%.

Hillside resident Keegan Goss, who is also a Hillside Forward member, toldWest Cook News that when he first bought a home in the village of Hillside two years ago, he paid $6,300 in property taxes and that since then, the tax bill has increased to $9,000.

“This is just not true,” Mayor Tamburino said. “When Mr. Goss purchased his house in 2018 (billed in 2019), his property tax bill was $6,044.58. In 2019 (billed in 2020), his tax bill was $6,115.27. That is an increase of $70.69 from 2018 to 2019 or 1%. His first installment for 2020 (billed in 2021) is $3,363.40.”

Mayor Tamburino, who was first elected in 1981, further alleges that Mr. Goss has not applied for his Homestead Exemption which would reduce his property tax bill.

“This information is available on the Cook County Treasurer’s website,” Tamburino said.

Goss also criticized the Village government for delays he allegedly experienced in having a fence installed.

“I had been calling and emailing Village Hall for months and never got a response about a fence,” Goss told West Cook News on Feb. 26. “What do village workers do all day? Hillside is a small town with only 8,000 people so they can't be that busy.”

But Mayor Tamburino said that he and employees of the Village had numerous conversations with both Mr. Goss and his mother about a fence.

“Mr. Goss was requesting a fence that did not meet the Village Code and would have caused a potential safety hazard by blocking the view of the home to the North of traffic from the intersection,” Mayor Tamburino said.