Cook County Seal | Facebook
Cook County Seal | Facebook
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas delayed the annual tax sale for delinquent properties of Cook County that was scheduled to begin on May 8.
Pappas deferred the tax sale in an emergency motion brought to the Cook County Circuit Courts on March 25.
A Cook County Circuit Judge passed Pappas’ motion that put the residents of Cook County first, postponing the tax sale until the court orders it to proceed once again.
Pappas’ intent behind delaying the tax sale is in response to the increasing spread of the coronavirus.
"Holding the tax sale under these circumstances would be unfair to tens of thousands of homeowners who are living paycheck to paycheck and face this pandemic" Pappas told the Daily Herald.
Over 52,000 delinquent properties would have been sold if the tax sale were to continue at the scheduled time. Of those, over 30,000 are homes, and more than 23,000 of the properties owe less than $1,000, while around 2,000 are senior citizens.
Postponing the tax sale also postpones $48 million in revenue for the Cook County Treasurer'ss Office that normally gains $14 billion each year. The tax sale is a required legal function of the office to sell homes, businesses, and land with unpaid bills from the tax year 2018 that were due in 2019.
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