Waste of newsprint

Did you see the waste of newsprint today?

There are 48 full pages of Township assessments published today in a format generally useless to anyone. These are published in numerical order by real estate PIN. Whoever is going to be able to find an assessment if he is trying to search by name or address?

How do you suppose the law came about that requires publication of assessments in a newspaper? Was the legislature stacked with newspaper owners at the time?

Obviously, the assessments are published because of a law. But why the law? And why, still, with the growth of computers and telephones and mail? Think a property owner even knows his PIN?

When you go to McHenry County records via the Treasurer's website (www.mchenrytreasurer.org), it is often impossible to find a property until you know several unpublished tricks. If you believe you have the exact address and enter it in the right format, you are still not likely to find the property for which you are searching.

The trick? Start with a partial address. That may not even work, which then means a telephone call during working hours (theirs and yours) to Bill LeFew's office, where a friendly staff member will be happy to help you.