Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas to begin sending $25.4 million in automatic refunds to Cook County homeowners

Almost 11,500 property owners who overpaid their First Installment taxes will automatically get back $25.4 million in refunds this month, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas said Wednesday Sept. 29, 2021.

Almost 4,000 refunds go to homeowners who are receiving property tax exemptions. The value of those exemptions is applied to the Second Installment tax bill, reducing the total taxes due.

Pappas has tried to make homeowners aware of potential exemptions as she attends community events throughout Chicago and suburban Cook County.

“The outreach efforts of my office, along with the Black and Latino Houses Matter program, are helping homeowners become more aware of how they can reduce their property tax burden,” Pappas said.

To see if you are receiving a portion of the refunds, visit cookcountytreasurer.com, select the purple box labeled “Your Property Overview” and enter your address.

The refunds, which the Treasurer’s Office will begin issuing this week, include:

• 5,137 homeowners who paid their property taxes online or by check will see funds electronically deposited to their bank or credit card accounts totaling $14.9 million

• 5,484 homeowners who paid their taxes through a bank/mortgage escrow account will be mailed refund checks totaling $10.1 million

• 808 homeowners who paid taxes totaling $412,177 in cash and will be mailed a refund application to ensure the proper party receives the refund

Pappas launched the automatic refund program in July 2018. Since then, 121,000 property owners have received about $82 million in refunds without having to fill out an application.

As a reminder, Second Installment 2020 property taxes are due Friday, Oct. 1.

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Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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