From the office of Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Dan Patlak…
Within the next week, the Cook County Treasurer will be mailing you the second installment of your 2010 tax bills. The time period to appeal your 2010 assessment at the Assessor’s office or at the Board of Review has already expired. However, you should make sure that this bill includes the Exemptions to which you may be entitled. The most common Exemption is called the Homeowner Exemption. You must have lived in your home as of January 1st 2010 to qualify. To qualify for the Senior Exemption (which must be renewed each year) you must have lived in your home as of January 1, 2010 and you or another owner of the home must have been at least sixty-five years old during 2010. To see if you received these exemptions, look at the right side of the bill a little more than half way down where the exemptions are listed. Then look farther to the right to see what the dollar amount is that corresponds with the respective exemption. If the dollar amount is $0.00 and you think you qualify for the exemption, then you should bring your tax bill to the nearest Assessor’s satellite office located at each of the five Cook County Courthouses (except Maywood which is closed). Bring proof of your residency and age and they will issue you a new tax bill that reflects the discount for the exemption(s).
For more information about Property Tax Exemptions visit the Education Center on my web site at www.ElectPatlak.com.
The Board of Review is currently accepting assessment appeals from Norwood Park, Riverside, River Forest, Berwyn, Cicero, Evanston, Oak Park and Rogers Park townships. All other townships will open within the next four to five months, each for approximately a thirty day period. You can monitor our schedule by going to www.cookcountyboardofreview.com and clicking on “Dates & Deadlines” If your township is currently open, you can file your complaint on line by going to the Board’s web site as well. Go to www.cookcountyassessor.com to check whether your township is open for appeal at the Assessors office (the Assessor always opens and closes townships for appeal before the Board of Review).
I hope this information proves useful to you. If you have any questions, please e-mail us back.
Dan Patlak
Commissioner, Cook County Board of Review
http://www.electpatlak.com
http://www.facebook.com/danpatlak/