Senior Citizen Property Tax Relief

Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan Announces Property Tax Relief Available for Senior Citizens

Senior Freeze Exemption Applications Mailed to Senior Citizens Senior Citizen Exemption Renewal Automatic This Year

Chicago – February 29, 2008– Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan announced that Senior Freeze Exemption applications have been mailed to the 145,000 taxpayers who received the exemption last year.

The Senior Freeze Exemption is available to all Cook County homeowners who were born prior to or in the year 1942 and who have total household incomes of $50,000 a year or less. Requirements also state that eligible seniors must have used their homes as their primary residences and have resided there January 1^st of 2006 and 2007. This valuable exemption protects limited-income senior citizen homeowners from increases in the equalized assessed values of their properties. The Senior Freeze Exemption must be applied for annually.

In a continued effort to streamline the exemption application process, Assessor Houlihan also announced that homeowners who received the Senior Citizen Exemption on their tax bills last year, and did not sell their homes in 2007, do not need to reapply for the Senior Citizen Exemption this year.

Taxpayers who received the Senior Exemption last year will have the exemption automatically applied to the second installment tax bills received this fall and they do not need to take any further action. Last year, over 241,000 homeowners qualified to receive the Senior Exemption.

The Senior Citizen Exemption is available to all Cook County homeowners, who were born prior to or in the year 1942 and who use their homes as their primary residences. This exemption entitles a senior to a reduction in the equalized assessed value of his or her property resulting in hundreds of dollars in tax savings. Taxpayers receiving the Senior Exemption will also automatically receive the Homeowner Exemption.

“Our goal is to ensure that every senior who has taken the time to previously qualify for this valuable exemption continues to benefit,” Houlihan said. “This will allow us to more intensely focus our efforts and resources on reaching out to homeowners who have not been taking advantage of this savings.”

In addition to those exemptions referenced above, there are three new exemptions available this year. These include the Disabled Persons’ Exemption, Disabled Veterans’ Exemption and the Returning Veterans’ Exemption.

Taxpayers who wish to apply for any of the exemptions for the first time this year may download applications from the Assessor’s website at www.cookcountyassessor.com or contact the Assessor’s Office at 312-443-7550 to have an application mailed to them.

“We are constantly looking for ways to make it easier for the public to understand and participate in the assessment process. From making sure our assessments are fair and accurate, to better administering money saving exemptions, our goal is to improve the level of service we provide taxpayers,” Houlihan said. “Making the exemption process easier and more taxpayer friendly is a large part of that effort.”