Following a report from NBC 5 Investigates, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Scott Neville has asked the Cook County Assessor what the procedure is for repaying the Homeowners Exemption he erroneously received, the assessor's office said.
Neville was given the exemption on a property he owns in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, but the application for the exemption lists his mother Alice Neville as the property owner, NBC 5 Investigates found. Alice Neville has been dead for 28 years.
Scott Neville does not live at the address, and the rules state you must live in the home to get that tax break. Neville’s mother, Alice Neville, died in 1991.
The Assessor is still investigating how many years the exemption was erroneously given.
Neville recently launched a campaign for a full 10-year term. In April, he filed his D-1 campaign papers with his address in the Beverly neighborhood, where he lives.
His wife is listed as the owner of the home.
In June, Neville loaned his campaign $50,000 and listed a different address- one in the Bronzeville neighborhood. The home in that neighborhood has a building permit in the window.
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There was no construction underway on the home when NBC 5 Investigates stopped by recently.
The judge received ownership of the home from his siblings in a quitclaim deed in 2004. As recently as 2018, the tax bill, and homeowners exemption of more than $726 was granted to Alice Neville.
A spokesman for the Cook County Assessor told NBC 5 Investigates the property has been receiving a homeowners exemption that it was not entitled to.
A rule stated that if the property owner dies, the homeowners exemption must be removed by the following year. It does not transfer to other family members.
Neville is the only African American on the Illinois Supreme Court. He has received backing from key Democratic Party leaders like Toni Preckwinkle and many others.
Another candidate, Appeals Court Judge Nathaniel Howse, has been endorsed by Jesse White and Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
