A contract between Portage Township Assessor Crystal Millsap and the Leanor Group, owned by Samantha Steele, a sometimes controversial commissioner for the Cook County Board of Review, is drawing scrutiny for its high price tag.
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Porter County Councilman Red Stone, R-1st, asked the Porter County Board of Commissioners to direct its attorney to look into what it can do to stop Millsap from honoring the contract with the Leanor Group to conduct personal property audits for businesses in Portage Township.
“This is the biggest grift that I’ve ever seen in my life,” he told the board. “As an elected official, I’m personally disgusted that the money we’re paying for this individual to do personal property reviews is unreal.”
Neither Millsap nor Steele responded to multiple requests from the Post-Tribune for an interview or comment on the contract.
The contract, Stone said, is roughly 10 times higher than the vendor the county employs doing similar work. Stone, who provided documents and emails to the Post-Tribune regarding the contract, brought up the concerns at the commissioners’ meeting at the behest of Commissioner Jim Biggs, R-North.
Millsap, a Democrat, is on the ballot for her first full term in office and faces Republican David Ondrovich. Stone raised the allegations publicly on Oct. 6, the day early voting started for the November general election.
Steele, a Democrat, is a Cook County Board of Review commissioner who lost a primary bid for re-election in March, according to the baiduhai. She has faced an ethics investigation and was recently acquitted of driving while intoxicated. She also previously sat on the Lake County Property Tax Board of Appeals until a change in state law restricted that membership to Indiana residents.
In 2012, Indiana townships were allowed to consolidate their assessor offices with the county. Portage Township maintained independence, but has historically used the same vendor for business personal property audits as the county to maintain continuity, according to Porter County Assessor Sue Neff. She said former Porter County Assessor Jon Snyder held a contract with Leanor Group from April 2020 to April 2022.
The township also used Leanor Group at that time. The business personal property audit services contract between the township and Leanor Group shows a sliding scale for audits dependent upon the “true tax” valuation range of the company being audited. A valuation over $25 million had a fee of $12,000, and all legal costs involving appeals resulting from an audit were stated to be the responsibility of the county.
Stone and Neff say that fee structure was in keeping with the rates of other vendors, but in December 2022 Snyder signed a contract with Tax Management Associates and the entire county began using them for personal business audits. Millsap was caucused into office in May 2023 after her predecessor, Alta Neri, resigned shortly after being re-elected — and switching parties — to take a job in South Bend.
Millsap entered into a contract with Leanor Group on July 18, 2023. This time the contract’s sliding scale was quite different, with the fee for companies with a valuation of $20 million to $50 million listed at $100,000 and audit fees for those listed above $50 million at $150,000. On March 7, 2024, Neff sent Millsap an email pointing out concerns over the fee schedule, according to documents and emails provided by Stone.
“In regards to Leanor’s fee schedule, the amounts charged for the lower AV taxpayers are somewhat comparable to TMA’s fees, but the fees increase as the AV increases,” Neff wrote. “The audit fees for your top 17 assessed value taxpayers will cost your taxing districts $1,350,000 in Leanor fees. If TMA performed the audits the fee would be $170,085. As you can see, the savings to your taxing districts for these 17 accounts would be $1,179,915.”
Neff goes on to ask in the email if Millsap intends to audit those 17 taxpayers and reiterates that TMA will perform them at the savings listed. Neff explained in an Oct. 7 interview that when Millsap was questioned about entering into a contract with Leanor Group, “honestly, she apologized and said, ‘I’m new at this. I should have asked.’”
Neff said this was a hypothetical example and there is no set percentage of businesses the county aims to audit per year. She said the county seeks to audit every company every few years, and after several audits and continued figures consistent with those audits, there would be no reason for further audits.
“The TMA contract is county-wide so she definitely has them as an option,” when audits of high-valuation companies are called for,” Neff said.
On April 3, 2024, Steele emailed Millsap a list of 12 companies stating, “Below are the properties that were on the list that we have already began working on. We are agreeable to not audit any of the other properties on that list.”
In an email to Neff dated April 5, 2024, Millsap writes, “I spoke to Samantha and she said she is too far in to stop audits. Respectively to county, no other audits will be performed from the list.”
Millsap goes on to state in the email that she was unaware the county preferred her office to work with TMA and that she had no communication with Neri when she took over, making the transition difficult.
Millsap said in the email that she was under the impression Neri was in the process of signing with Leanor Group. “Thus far, I am more than pleased with the work and communication with Leanor. The audits that were performed on Cliffs have successfully recovered $2,600,000, Illiana $600,000, and Steel Warehouse $1,713,260.”
Neff explained via email to Millsap that TMA’s contract covered the entire county then and still does, and Millsap had the option, and continues to have the option, to assign the higher-valuation audits to them if she chooses.
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Stone said he has been communicating with Millsap for the past year and a half on the matter and asked her to sign a memorandum of understanding.
Dated March 11, 2025, the MOU states, “The Portage Township Assessor shall utilize the same consultants and/or experts hired by the Porter County Commissioners, as recommended by the Porter County Assessor.” However, it also states, “The Township Assessor remains the final authority over personal property assessments in Portage Township,” and state statute grants that authority.
On Aug. 29, 2025, Millsap provided notice of termination of the MOU and this year, on Aug. 31, entered into a new contract with Leanor Group that continues the upper-level fees at $100,000 for audits of companies with a valuation of $20 million to $50 million, and $150,000 for audits of companies with a valuation of over $50 million.
When County Attorney Scott McClure was asked if the county had any recourse to block the township from using Leanor Group, he said, “No, we don’t have an out.”
Stone was not deterred.
“I say the commissioners file a lawsuit to try to get an injunction,” he said.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.