Community Update

FIRST INSTALLMENT
TAX BILLS ARE DUE MARCH 4

By

TERRY KELLY, PALATINE TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR

First installment property tax bills for tax year 2013
arrived in the last week of January, according to Assessor Terry Kelly.   “Property taxes are paid in two installments,”
Kelly said.  “The first installment bill
is fifty-five percent (55%) of the total property tax bill for the previous
year, and will be due on March 4, 2014.”

Taxpayers should note that first
installment tax bills will not reflect homeowner, senior citizen or other
exemptions, nor will they reflect successful assessment appeals that were filed
for tax year 2013.  “The first
installment is just an estimate based on what was paid last year,” Assessor
Kelly explained.  “When the second
installment bill is mailed in the summer, it will reflect all exemptions for
which the property is eligible as well any savings due to successful 2013 tax
appeals.”

Details about Paying Taxes.  If money for
property taxes is paid into an escrow account with a taxpayer’s mortgage
company, the financial institution should receive the tax bill electronically,
even if the taxpayer also receives a copy of the bill.  Palatine Township Assessor Terry Kelly advises
taxpayers with property tax escrows held by their mortgage companies not to pay
property taxes on their own.  If they do,
an overpayment of property taxes may result. 

Property owners who do not have
mortgage companies paying their taxes can make tax payments in person, by mail,
or on-line at the Cook County Treasurer’s web site, www.cookcountytreasurer.com.   In-person payments are accepted at the Cook
County Treasurer’s downtown Chicago office at 118 N. Clark Street and at any
Chase Bank in the Chicago area.  The Chase
branch closest to the Township Office is located at 825 W. Euclid Avenue in
Palatine, next to Walgreens.  Other Chase
Bank locations are at 190 W. Northwest Highway and 679 E. Dundee, both also in
Palatine.