Tax bills hit Evanston mailboxes

First installment property tax bills are hitting the mailboxes of Evanston residents this week. Payments on the bills are due by Tuesday, March. 3.

Property taxes are paid in two installments. The first installment bill is 55 percent of the total property tax bill for the previous year, and first installment bills do not reflect homeowner, senior citizen or other exemptions or successful assessment appeals that were filed for tax year 2014.

Second installment bills, mailed in the summer, will reflect all exemptions for which the property is eligible, as well as any savings due to successful 2014 tax appeals.

Evanston residents can call the City’s Property Tax Assessment Review Office, at 847-448-8168, with questions or concerns.

If money for property taxes is paid into an escrow account with a taxpayer’s mortgage company, the financial institution should receive the tax bill electronically, even if the taxpayer also receives a copy of the bill.

Taxpayers with property tax escrows held by their mortgage companies should not pay property taxes on their own. If they do, an overpayment of property taxes may result.

Property owners who do not have mortgage companies paying their taxes can make tax payments in person, by mail, or online at the Cook County Treasurer’s website, cookcountytreasurer.com. In-person payments are accepted at the Cook County Treasurer’s downtown Chicago office at 118 N. Clark St. and at Chase Bank branches, including the six in Evanston.