the wasserblawg

Some news is (finally) starting to leak out regarding those inevitable Cook County property tax bills everyone has been waiting for. We all, of course, know that local property tax bills are sent out in two installments. The first installment, a/k/a the estimated bill, is always taken as a percentage of the previous years levy. Formerly half of the prior years taxes, the most recent bill demanded 55% of the last known taxes, owing to a recently changed state law. The County, it seems, needs more money sooner. A prior blog post alerted readers to this change earlier this year. The second, of final installment of the tax bills is supposed  to get mailed out in August, providing a theoretical  due date of September 1st. These bills are very often mailed much later. Last year they went out in November  and were due December. There has been a good deal of rumor mongering and speculation about the timing of the second installment 2009 tax bills. Harken back to this report in the Daily