Channahon mayor faces income tax charges

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Channahon Mayor Joe Cook

Updated: November 4, 2011 6:09PM

CHANNAHON — Channahon Mayor Joe Cook has been charged with failing to file income taxes on about $250,000 in income, including money he received as mayor.

Federal authorities announced the charges today and said all six counts against Cook are misdemeanors.

Cook, 45, is accused of failing to file tax returns on income he received from the village of Channahon, as an employee of Will County and as sole owner of a private engineering consulting business called Phase One Solutions Inc.

Cook is accused of failing to file individual tax returns while earning $69,672 in 2005, $82,542 in 2006, $60,304 in 2007 and $39,066 in 2008. He also is accused of failing to file corporate tax returns for Phase One, the company he incorporated in December 2006.

The charges include four counts of failing to file federal individual tax returns and two counts of failing to file federal corporate tax returns.

Each count carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Cook could not be reached for comment today.

Politically active

Cook has been mayor of Channahon since 2003 and was re-elected to a third term in April. As mayor, Cook’s pay is $16,025 a year, which includes compensation for board meetings and for his dual role as the village’s liquor commissioner.

Cook was hired as a field engineer for Will County in November 2003 and was employed there until October 2005. According to the county, he earned $36,500 in 2004 and $52,000 in 2005.

Cook has become increasingly active on municipal issues in the region and state.

He is president of the Will County Governmental League and is a vice president with the Illinois Municipal League. In 2010, he was elected executive chairman of the Chicago Metropolitan Mayors’ Caucus, an organization representing the interests of 273 municipalities in six counties.

In January, Cook was part of an Illinois Municipal League lobbying effort in Springfield as state legislators voted to increase the income tax. Cook and league officials worked to protect the amount of state income tax that is shared with municipalities.

In the past week, Cook has been defending his village’s practice of allowing companies to set up sales offices in Channahon to avoid paying higher sales taxes in Chicago and Cook County. The RTA and city of Chicago last week sued Channahon and Kankakee, alleging that the towns have conspired with the companies to set up the offices to record sales there rather than in Cook County.

Channahon last week issued a statement defending the practice as legal and authorized by the Illinois tax code.

Officials’ reactions

Village Trustee Scott Slocum said Thursday that the charges against the mayor are not related to Channahon village policy regarding the sales offices.

“We’re perfectly in our legal rights to do what we’re doing,” Slocum said. “We’ve been doing it for years. It’s unfortunate that these two things come within a week of one another. One has nothing to do with the other.”

Slocum said the announcement of the charges against Cook came “as a total surprise.”

“He (Cook) deserves the benefit of the doubt,” Slocum said, noting Cook’s years of public service.

Village Trustee Judie Nash, who ran against Cook in the April mayoral election, said, “I am anxious to hear from Mr. Cook and hear his side of the story. I’ve known him for many years and hope that the allegations are groundless.”

At the same time, Nash said, elected officials are held to a high standard.

“You’re in the public eye, and you need to tell your side of the story to retain the public trust,” she said.

The next village board meeting is Tuesday.

Federal subpoena

Cook was the subject of a federal subpoena in October 2009 seeking his enrollment and payroll records from the village.

The Herald-News learned about the subpoena in March 2010 and Cook responded to inquiries with a statement saying the investigation did not target him or village government.

“I know there are no improprieties on my part, and I am confident that there have been no improprieties on the part of the village,” Cook said at the time. “There are no indications of wrongdoing. Nor have there been any allegations of wrongdoing.”

Village Trustee Jerry Papesh said he and other trustees knew little about the investigation because the village’s own staff could not divulge information that was being shared with federal authorities.

The subpoena also sought information about a Channahon business license issued in September 2009 to a construction waste company called Global Recovery Services. The license listed a Riverside Drive address, which the company may have never occupied. No company of that name was at the address, and Cook said at the time that he did not think the company had ever located there.