Cook County homeowners can expect the first installment of their property tax bills to show up in mailboxes this week.
Property owners will have until March 4 to pay the bills, which will be equal to 55 percent of the total tax tab paid last year on each piece of land. The second installment, which is scheduled to go out in late June, will show any changes to the bills caused by increased taxes or changes in the value of a property for tax purposes.
For the second year in a row, the bills put together by Treasurer Maria Pappas will include the debt owed by each individual unit of local government. Pappas is trying to highlight the issue of rising local debt, including those for underfunded pension systems.
“I think Treasurer Pappas deserves a lot of credit,” said Laurence Msall, president of the non-partisan Civic Federation budget watchdog group. “She is using (the bill) to communicate to taxpayers on a very serious issue for government, which is rising debt and pension liabilities.”
Original article source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/chi-cook-county-property-tax-bills-to-hit-this-week-20140127-story.html