Orland Park gives details of property tax rebate program
BY MIKE NOLAN mnolan@southtownstar.com October 1, 2012 8:28PM
Updated: November 4, 2012 6:11AM
Applications for Orland Park’s property tax abatement program will be available starting Oct. 29 and will have to be filed by Dec. 14.
Both paper and electronic rebate forms will be available. Paper forms will be at village hall, the public library, the village’s Sportsplex and recreation department.
Electronic versions will be at www.optaxrebate.com as of Oct. 29, and the village will post a video tutorial on the website to walk applicants through the process. Village staffers also will be in the village hall lobby during regular business hours to help residents who want to file electronically, said Joe La Margo, deputy village clerk.
La Margo, during a village board committee meeting Monday, said postcards with basic information about the rebate program will be mailed to homeowners Oct. 26.
Orland Park will also use its Facebook page and Twitter feed to publicize the program.
Trustees in August approved resurrecting the program, in which the village returns a portion of its share of homeowners’ tax bills. The village has earmarked $2.5 million for the rebate program, including money to cover costs, and officials are estimating that roughly 19,000 homeowners will apply, translating to a $131 rebate per taxpayer.
Along with the form, residents will have to include copies of their tax bill, driver’s license and a utility bill. For online applications, residents can scan and upload copies of the documents or take a picture of them with a phone or tablet. Electronic applications will include a field for the resident’s water bill account number, which would stand in place of including a current utility bill, according to Annmarie Mampe, the village’s finance director.
The online process will let filers know if they haven’t attached all the necessary documents, and they’ll receive an email letting them know they’ve successfully filed their application, Mampe said. After receiving an application, the village will still need to verify whether property taxes were paid by the resident, she said.
The village began the rebate program in March 2003 to offset a new home-rule sales tax, but the program was suspended in 2009 because the recession delivered a substantial hit on village revenue. From 2003 through 2009, the village rebated a total of $25.6 million, Mampe said.
When the last rebate checks went out in 2009, the amount each resident received varied depending on the equalized assessed value of their home. That year the village gave $4.5 million to homeowners.
In other business during their village board meeting Monday, trustees approved plans for Bonefish Grill, which is proposing a 5,200-square-foot seafood restaurant at 15537 LaGrange Road, between 156th Street and LongHorn Steakhouse. Bonefish is operated by Tampa, Fla.-based Bloomin’ Brands, which also owns the Outback Steakhouse and Carrabba’s Italian Grill chains.
The board also voted to lease space in the shuttered Orland Plaza to Flaherty & Collins, developer of the Ninety 7 Fifty on the Park apartment complex. Flaherty & Collins will use the former Creative Paper space as a temporary leasing office. The first units in the apartment building are expected to be ready by mid-March.
