Lyons Mayor Chris Getty was investigated but not charged in a federal corruption investigation that swept through Chicago and numerous suburbs in recent years. Now he faces new trouble: a federal lien demanding he cough up more than $150,000 in unpaid income taxes.
Getty says the tax demand from the Internal Revenue Service has nothing to do with the criminal probe — which he insists is over as it pertains to him, with no wrongdoing found — but rather his divorce case.
“The divorce triggered the tax liability,” Getty said. “I had to sell an asset,” which he declined to identify but said it “created a tax burden on myself.”
“It was all personal issues.”
The lien, filed with the Cook County clerk’s office in August, covers the 2023 tax year and totals $156,961.91, records show.
Getty said he proposed a payment plan with the federal government to start paying down the debt, but it was rejected. So the lien was filed. Under a newer arrangement, he’s already paying things off, he said.
Federal authorities declined to comment.
Liens can be tethered to a debtor’s assets, and in Getty’s case, it’s a home on Cracow Avenue in the western suburb.
The same home stirred controversy several years ago when the Better Government Association found how Getty came to own it, reporting:
“Under Getty’s direction, the village in 2013 demolished a run-down house that sat there, bought the lot in 2014 for almost $41,000 and then sold it in 2015 to a political contributor of the mayor — a construction firm that was the sole bidder on the property — at a nearly $13,500 loss.”
“Once a new house was finished, the contractor sold it to Getty in 2016 for slightly more than $291,000 without listing it on the market to field competing offers.”
The article, published in 2019, shows the property’s value subsequently rose.
When federal agents executed a search warrant in 2019 on Lyons Village Hall and a family insurance agency run by Getty, they sought records relating to a businessman involved in building Getty’s home and others in town.
Agents also sought records relating to, among others, video gambling magnate Rick Heidner, trucking magnate Michael Vondra and red-light camera contractor SafeSpeed LLC.
While other public figures went down in that investigation and related cases — from former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan to ex-McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski, who doubled as a Cook County commissioner — Getty was never charged. But he spent nearly $200,000 from his campaign fund on a Loop law firm between 2019 and 2021, election records show.
In 2023, records show Getty secured a second mortgage on his home for $150,000, which “was all part of the divorce settlement,” he said.
Getty’s divorce records show he agreed to pay his ex-wife for her interest in the home, and that he would pay her for a share in a hotel investment referred to in court records as “the Drake Hotel.”
Business records show he’s played some role in the Drake Oak Brook Resort LLC, which also was examined by federal authorities.
Burt Odelson, a private attorney who represents the village of Lyons, also represented Getty in the divorce case, records show. Odelson pointed out he doesn’t handle divorce cases, but he agreed to represent Getty because “he’s a personal friend.”
When asked if the mayor paid him for his legal services, Odelson said, “I don’t really think that’s any of your business.”
Odelson said the federal investigation added strain to Getty’s marriage and was a factor in the divorce.
Reelected mayor earlier this year and also reelected as Lyons Township supervisor, Getty’s public salary for those positions is collectively around $150,000, he says.
Getty has received more than $85,000 in political campaign donations from Odelson’s law firms over the years.
Census records show the median household income in Lyons, with a population of around 11,000, was about $64,000 in 2020.