Will County Land Bank Clears Committee With Two Amendments

Will County Board Executive Committee Meeting | June 11, 2026

Article Summary: The Will County Board Executive Committee on Thursday, June 11, 2026, recommended creating a Will County Land Bank Authority — a tool to return blighted, tax-delinquent properties to productive use — after adopting two amendments and forwarding the measure to the full County Board.

Will County Land Bank Key Points:

• The committee approved Resolution 26-4979 establishing the land bank as an intergovernmental authority and sent it to the full County Board for final action.
• Members amended the governing agreement to read “County Board Speaker or designee” rather than “chair,” and to add the Will County Governmental League to the board of directors.
• Doug Pryor of the county’s Center for Economic Development said roughly $1 million in expiring federal American Rescue Plan funds would seed the program at no new local cost.
• The authority could acquire distressed parcels, clear title and back-tax liens, and resell them — but only with the express consent of the municipality where a property sits.

WILL COUNTY — The Will County Board Executive Committee on Thursday, June 11, 2026, recommended the creation of a Will County Land Bank Authority, advancing a long-discussed economic-development tool to the full County Board after attaching two amendments to the governing intergovernmental agreement.

Resolution 26-4979 would authorize the county executive to sign an intergovernmental agreement establishing the authority under the state’s Intergovernmental Cooperation Act (5 ILCS 220/1). Doug Pryor of the Will County Center for Economic Development, who has championed the proposal, told the committee the land bank is “literally a tool that is available through state law” already in use by the county’s larger neighbors, including DuPage County, and by several smaller ones.

“As it stands today, we actually don’t have a tool to do this,” Pryor said, explaining that the treasurer’s office currently pushes roughly 3,000 properties a year to auction but has no mechanism to strategically assemble parcels, extinguish back taxes and title problems, and work with communities to redevelop blighted areas. The land bank, he said, is designed to take properties “that are currently not in productive use, not paying taxes” and return them “into the hands of either a responsible owner or developer.”

How the Tool Would Work

Pryor described the target properties as ones that lack equity — parcels carrying tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes, title defects or environmental issues that leave them with effectively no market value. Such properties, he said, often sit unwanted through three years of tax sales and a subsequent county auction without a buyer. Under the intergovernmental agreement, the authority would be empowered to extinguish past-due tax liens, clear title, and resell parcels, frequently below market value, to spur development.

Pryor stressed several guardrails. The authority could not acquire a property within a municipality without that community’s express consent. It is not a foreclosure mechanism and would hold no power to seize properties or tax-sale equity. Board members would receive no compensation, and the entity would be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, the Open Meetings Act, annual audits and the same transparency requirements as other public bodies. The agreement also includes a conflict-of-interest provision barring directors from taking an interest in land bank properties, and an exit-and-termination clause allowing member communities to leave.

Will County Treasurer Tim Brophy walked the committee through the existing tax-sale and auction process, distinguishing it from the land bank’s role and noting that some parcels remain unsold “because nobody wants” them even at the auction’s low minimum bid. Those orphaned properties, Pryor said, are precisely what the land bank is meant to address.

Funding and Board Structure

Pryor said the program would be seeded with roughly $1 million in expiring American Rescue Plan dollars remaining in the Center for Economic Development’s budget — funds that must be spent by the end of the year and were originally set aside for building and facade improvements that were not allocated. He characterized the land bank as a recyclable fund intended to break even, recoup its investment at resale, and reinvest, rather than a revenue generator or an ongoing taxpayer expense.

Under the agreement, the board of directors would include three Will County representatives — the county board chair, county treasurer and county executive, or their designees — plus one director appointed by each participating municipality and five expert directors with backgrounds in economic development, real estate, finance, planning and community or workforce development. Directors would serve staggered three-year terms.

The proposal drew more than an hour of questions. Member Vince Logan, who said he had worked on a similar program in another county, pressed on who could buy rehabilitated properties and who would control the money. Members Sherry Newquist, Steve Balich and Judy Ogalla questioned how parcels would be acquired and valued and whether displaced owners could claim equity, a reference to recent litigation over tax-sale takings. Member Julie Berkowicz asked Pryor to document how many no-value properties actually exist in the county; Brophy said the figure runs to roughly 400 to 500 a year and that 116 went unpurchased in a recent cycle.

Two Amendments Added

Member Jacqueline Traynere moved to amend the agreement to substitute “County Board Speaker or designee” for “chair,” noting Will County does not use the “chair” title. The committee adopted the change unanimously by roll call. On a suggestion from Republican Leader Jim Richmond — and after Hugh O’Hara of the Will County Governmental League told the committee that member municipalities want a locally controlled land bank — the committee adopted a second amendment adding the Governmental League to the board of directors. Several members, including Richmond and Ogalla, also urged that the State’s Attorney’s office be asked whether it could advise the board; Kevin Meyers of that office said the question would require further review.

With both amendments in place, the committee approved the resolution by roll call and forwarded it to the full County Board. “Once it gets to the full board, I will be supportive,” Richmond said.