Tuesday, July 10, 2012

by Bill Smith

Local officials say some property taxpayers may have not received all the exemptions they're entitled to in the tax bills they received in the mail earlier this month.

And the officials are encouraging taxpayers to call for help in getting the bills straightened out.

Without providing any details of what went wrong with the bills or how many taxpayers may be affected, Township Assessor Bonnie Wilson said at Monday night's City Council meeting that many bills for senior citizens were calculated incorrectly and suggested residents call her office at 847-332-2465 if they have questions.

Today County Commissioner Larry Suffredin issued a news release encouraging taxpayers who didn't see the homeowners exemption, senior citizen exemption, long-term homeowner's exemption or senior freeze exemption they were expecting to call one of the county assessor's offices or his office for help.

The county assessor's downtown Chicago office can be reached at 312-443-7550, the assessor's Skokie office can be reached at 847-470-7237 and Suffredin's office in Evanston can be reached at 847-864-1209.

And County Assessor Joseph Berrios is saying, "It's critical that all eligible homeowners review their tax bills to ensure their exemptions appear on their bills."

Certificate of Error forms used to apply for missing exemptions are available on the county assessor's