Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas called the legislation “the most significant property tax reform legislation the General Assembly has approved in decades.”
Maria Pappas
Bill Designed to Revamp Property Tax Sale System That Fueled ‘Urban Decay’ Headed to Governor’s Desk
The first installment of property owners’ 2022 tax bills will be due approximately a month later than usual because of delays last year, officials said.
If homeowners are delinquent more than a year on making property tax payments, they’re at risk of owing large interest payments to private investors who buy up that debt. “It’s the poorest people paying the richest people,” Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas said.
A federal lawsuit brought Thursday by two Black homeowners caught up in the Cook County propoerty tax sale system on behalf of themselves and everyone else who alleges the process violates the constitution and both federal and civil rights laws.
If you are a homeowner in certain portions of the city, you’ve seen your bill go up quite a bit. On the predominately Latino Lower West Side, there was an increase of 46%, according to a new study.
Delinquent properties are eligible for the Cook County Tax Sale, which is administered by the Cook County treasurer’s office. That’s where a private investor buys the debt and can make a big profit off of it.
With voting coming to a close in Cook County, Board President Toni Preckwinkle is vying for a fourth term in office and fellow Democrats are looking to maintain the party’s control on all countywide seats.
Thanks to a “little-known loophole,” hedge funds, private equity firms and real estate investors have “siphoned” approximately $280 million from schools, parks, libraries, fire departments and other government agencies between September 2015 and September 2022 in Cook County.
The abandonment and neglect that has undermines the economies of many Chicago and Cook County neighborhoods is very much man-made, according to a new study.
Many of the barriers erected by elected officials and civic leaders beginning in the 1930s to keep Black Chicagoans, Latino Chicagoans and White Chicagoans from living, working and playing in the same neighborhoods remain unchanged nearly a century later, according to a new study.
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas talks about the disparities in delinquent houses and how she’s working to reduce the problem.
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas offers some last-minute tips ahead of the annual tax sale.
“Just as the banking industry is undergoing a transformation, so too am I continuing to automate the Treasurer’s Office,” says Maria Pappas. Learn more about this candidate.
“Just as the banking industry is undergoing a transformation, so too am I continuing to automate the Treasurer’s Office,” Maria Pappas writes. Learn more about this candidate.
Notice anything different about your property tax bills this year? Treasurer Maria Pappas is trying to use them to expose the worst sources of debt in Cook County. We check in with her.
