Finance Committee - 02/03/2021 Page 7
Mayor Donchess
Ms. Kleiner | think is on the call. Can you answer that question? You’re on mute too.
Kim Kleiner, Director of Administrative Services
Excuse me. Good evening Mayor Donchess, members of the Committee. So the check, the Record of
Expenditures is who the check is written to. | believe the question is, who is the check in benefit of which is a
different question. So you may have a check that is written because the taxes or the payments are through a
mortgage company or they are through another entity, and then the abatement is returned. So | don’t think the
question is really who the check is written to. The name on the Record of Expenditures is who the check is
written to. | believe what Alderwoman Lu may be referencing is who is the check benefiting.
Mayor Donchess
Who is the property owner.
Director Kleiner
Correct.
Mayor Donchess
So you are saying that like if a mortgage company is handling the taxes or some third party that the refund
goes to the third party handling the tax payments. Whereas the owner of the property could be someone
different than the payee of the check, correct?
Director Kleiner
Correct, yes.
Mayor Donchess
Alderwoman Lu, does that answer your question or not.
Alderwoman Lu
No, it sounds really confused. So | mean | understand we have property owners whose mortgage company
manages their taxes and is the custodian of their tax payments. When we write a check, as an abatement, we
may be sending it to the mortgage company but certainly somewhere on the check it says “for the benefit of
this particular person who has an account there”. And I’m sorry it doesn’t sound like what you’re telling me is
very well thought out. | don’t understand why — there must be a name on any conveyance of money to an
institution, which institution someone has a mortgage at.
Mayor Donchess
So you’re saying that you think the name of the property owner should appear in the Record of Expenditure in
addition to the payee on the check if it is different?
Alderwoman Lu
| think the person who ... So, when you have someone like Core Logic that’s paid, Core Logic did not file an
abatement request and | just wonder if it's an unnecessary clouding of where or who these checks are paid to.
