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The Cook County Board has no authority to set up a taxpayer watchdog agency, Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine's office said Monday. County Board members scheduled a hearing for 1 p.m. today on creating the agency, which would be similar to the statewide Citizens Utility Board. The board, which would represent the interests of taxpayers in Cook County, would be funded by $5 donations from willing property owners. To get it started, it could get a $250,000 loan from County Treasurer Maria Pappas' office. Pappas asked Devine's office for a legal opinion on whether her office had the authority to make the loan and whether it had the obligation to cover the postage costs of including in tax bills brochures inviting taxpayers to join the new agency, to be called the Taxpayer Action Board. Deputy State's Attorney Patrick T. Driscoll said not only did Pappas not have authority to make the loan, the board does not have the authority to create the agency. All 17 Cook County commissioners had signed on, so the board's creation seemed a foregone conclusion. Commissioner Forrest Claypool, chief sponsor, said he planned to go ahead with the plan today anyway. Dismissing Driscoll's opinion, he said, "I think its very poorly reasoned and almost contrived in its attempt to discredit the ordinance. It's an advisory opinion. It has no effect under the law, and it shouldn't stop the Board of Commissioners from representing taxpayers who are hard hit right now with excessive taxes."