Nearly 1.8 million Tax Year 2024 First Installment property tax bills have been sent out for Cook County property owners, with a due date falling on March 4, 2025. Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas stated that the first installment is set at 55% of the previous year's total tax. The monthly late charge is 0.75 percent, as per the dictate of Illinois law.
In a trend that continues to gain momentum, a growing number of people are opting to handle this financial obligation online. Pappas said, "Each year more and more people use our website to pay their property tax bills online," in a statement obtained by PR Newswire.
For those who are looking to join the online bandwagon and send their payments into the digital ether, open cookcountytreasurer.com, look for the blue box marked "Pay Online for Free," and enter either address or 14-digit Property Index Number (PIN). There's no fee for bank account payments, and the Treasurer's Office is willing to accept partial payments.
By visiting the same website, residents can not only take care to quickly pay off their dues but also delve into whether they've got money coming back to them. The Treasurer's Office is calling out for residents to check for a piece of the $122 million in available refunds and to ensure they're not missing out on $33 million in property tax exemptions, which can substantially lower the amount they owe. Adding to this resource trove is the Pappas Studies, which provide taxpayer access to a 20-year history of Cook County property taxes. All of this info and more is conveniently bundled up at the site, making financial housekeeping a little less daunting for property owners.
On the valuation front, the Cook County Assessor's Office has done its homework and appraised the total value of property in Chicago at $50.8 billion, which is an uptick of $9.5 billion or 23% when compared to the figures from 2023. As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, commercial properties saw a more significant increase compared to residential properties, resulting in homeowners' share of the tax base shrinking slightly from 51% to 49%.
