Skip to main content

ATTENTION CHICAGO CONDO OWNERS - TIME SENSITIVE CHANGES TO THE CITY's TRASH REBATE PROGRAM


Our great City of Chicago offers many many benefits to citizens. One of the less glamorous, albeit greatly appreciated services is garbage pick-up - at least for single family homes and small multi-unit buildings.

The recognized that condominium owners were paying for this service through their taxes, without realizing any benefit. The result, a rebate program to qualifying Condominium Associations to offset some of the costs of waste disposal. 
  
The most recent City budget and recent changes to the municipal ordinance make some very important, and time sensitive changes:

  • An association can only file for the rebate for the 2011 operating year. Applications for prior years are not being accepted.   If your association did not apply for rebates for prior years, you will not be able to do so for 2011 or future years (lets call this one the "you snooze, you lose" provision). 
  • The rebate for 2011 will be limited to a total of $75 per owner-occupied residential unit. (the operative words here being owner-occupied - no rebates for rental units!)
  • Applications for the 2011 refuse rebate MUST be in our office by January 31, 2012 to be considered, no exceptions. (a new, strict, filing deadline).
  • The 2012 rebates will drop to $50 per qualifying unit., then down to $25 for 2013, 2014 and 2015. 
  • Applications for future years will need to be on file before the January City Council meetings (whenever they are scheduled). The City is urging that application need to be filed at least two weeks prior to that meeting date.
The Finance Committee is still processing 2008 and 2009 remittances, and will then move on to process 2010 and 2011 applications.
Applications need to include the following:
  • Claim form (download here) 
  • Association board form of resolution authorizing someone to submit the application for the rebate. The resolution should be signed by the Board President and one other person.
  • A copy of the arrangement/contract for 2011 salvage collection services
  • Supporting documentation of the total refuse collection expenses for 2011 - copies of invoices or a statement from the contractor will be sufficient
  • If not on file with former year applications, the recycling certification form (download here)
  • Both the Claim form and the Recycling form must be notarized and delivered to your local alderman. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PLM Title Shuttered

Title insurance is a critically important part of any real estate transaction; or at least it should be. The title company guaranties the "quality" of an owners interest in the property - that there aren't any (unknown) liens or defects. No buyer that I work for will purchase a property without it. Title insurance is only as good as the insurer. We want to know that the insurance company, like the Rock of Gibraltar , will always be there. We want to sleep easy at night, knowing that the client is protected. That said, it was a bit distressing to see that PLM Title Company shut its doors, without any forewarning last week. Worse still, this morning's news is that there is a criminal investigation underway - and that we do not yet know why. Old timers like me shudder with memories of the great Intercounty Title debacle five years ago. Here's to hoping that this one is nothing like that one. Set aside the problems involved trying to make a claim against a defun
6 comments
Read more

FHA Loans and Condo Sales - Is Relief on the Way?

By all outward appearances, state government in Illinois has ground to a complete halt, with all eyes focused on the Governor's "problem" and all the related fal - der -rah. Its hardly business as usual in Springfield, but not everything has ground to a halt. Several new bills have been introduced this week. That is not to say that they will be of benefit to we the people. Nonetheless, the cogs and gears are turning, and we are hoping for the best. One such proposal comes from Rep. LaShawn Ford of Chicago's west side, who is himself a real estate broker and entrepreneur . He is the author of House Bill 155 , introduced & referred to the Rules Committee Wednesday. It seeks to address one of the most common problems I am seeing in condominium resale transactions these days; the tension between many Declarations of Condominium and FHA loan guidelines. Many Condo Declarations provide Associations with a "right of first refusal," which basically allows t
3 comments
Read more

MAYOR DALEY PROPOSES TIF FINANCING FOR SOME DISTRESSED PROPERTIES

Lets see how City Council reacts on this one, but the Mayor introduced a pretty interesting little ordinance that might be a real boon to first time area home buyers willing to buy and rehabilitate some bank-owned properties. Progress Illinois reports that the mayor's bill, introduced on March 9: "seeks to tackle the growing problem of vacant homes that are blighting neighborhoods across Chicago, and in particular in minority communities. Called the Vacant Building TIF Purchase and Rehabilitation Ordinance, the  bill  (PDF) proposes allowing residents with a household income no greater than 100 percent of the regional median income to apply for a tax increment financing (TIF) grant that would pay for up to 25 percent of the cost of purchasing and rehabilitating an empty residential property. Single-family empty homes or units in condo and cooperative buildings with four units or fewer are eligible. The empty homes must be located in a TIF district and must be in need of
Post a Comment
Read more