Letter from Florida company asks Cook County residents to pay for property information

Local government officials are advising residents to ignore letters arriving from a company in Florida that claims to offer information about property values in Cook County.  
 
The letters, sent by a company operating under the name Compliance Solutions, are not affiliated in any capacity with local government, according to Assessor Bob Thompson. The letters contain the phrase ‘property assessment services’ near the top of the page, along with the company’s name, Thompson told the Cook County Board of Commissioners during a public meeting Feb. 23. The letters are formatted like a bill and offer the company’s services to Cook County residents for a fee of $94.

Thompson acknowledged that local residents are welcome to utilize Compliance Solution’s services for a fee. However, most Cook County property records are available through multiple departments at the courthouse or online. In most cases, Thompson said, this information is provided free of charge to local property owners.

WTIP contacted a Florida-based company Feb. 25 operating under the name Compliance Solutions. Mark Lammert is the company’s president and CEO. He spoke with WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs and said his particular business has no affiliation with the mailers Cook County residents were receiving. Lammert called the mailers “a scam” that should be reported to the authorities. Indeed, Thompson and Cook County officials have reported the situation to the Minnesota attorney general’s office.

WTIP received a copy of the document in question that some local residents are receiving in the mail. When the document was shared with Lammert, he responded that the “attachment is as phony as a $3 bill,” while adding that it is “definitely not my company.”

The audio below is Thompson speaking during the Feb. 23 meeting of the county board.