I love my job.
I never know what property tax problem is going to arrive at my counter on any given day.
Yesterday, a cantankerous old grump burst in ranting that we wouldn't accept his tax bill payment. He tried paying online, he tried paying at Chase Bank, he tried mailing in a payment and his check was returned uncashed!
Now, this fella had many conspiracy theories about why his payment wouldn't process and I won't bore you with the details. Trust me, they were fantastic theories! For those of you interested in the basic civics of our property tax system, township assessors do not collect property tax payments. That duty falls to Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas.
After our friend completed his rant, we investigated the issue and found his property taxes have been paid by an unknown beneficiary for a year. Weird! I sent him home with the promise that I would call him back after some more research.
Well I found his beneficiary!
Turns out our angry taxpayer has a new neighbor from South Carolina who is a little confused about his property tax bills. I found the neighbors' information through a public record search and reached out to get his side of the story.
Our new arrival from South Carolina was quick to express his outrage over property taxes in Cook County. "They're twice as much as I expected!". Which would make sense because the new arrival from South Carolina had directed his escrow company to pay the neighbor's tax bill and then wrote a check twice a year for his own tax bill. He was paying property tax bills for two properties.
So, the moral of the story is this. Please know your property index number when making property tax payments, and if you have an escrow company that pays your property taxes for you don't write another check. Also, if you find yourself with a new neighbor from South Carolina... bring him some cookies or some sort of welcome gift. They're very neighborly!
Happy tax day.
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