Cook County treasurer hosting phone bank Thursday to help property owners

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas and ABC 7 Chicago will host a "Black and Latino Houses Matter" phone bank on Thursday, March 11, to help county homeowners find refunds, apply for property tax exemptions and avoid the tax sale.

"I am grateful to ABC 7 for participating in my program to return money to taxpayers and prevent them from losing their homes because of unpaid taxes," Pappas said in an announcement of the program. "While the Tax Sale disproportionately impacts Black and Latino homeowners, all Cook County homeowners are welcome to call the phone bank."

The phone bank will be open at (312) 603-5105 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. A team from the treasurer's office, including members fluent in Spanish, Polish, Chinese, will search $76 million in property tax refunds available to callers, check if callers are eligible for $46 million in missing tax exemptions, and verify if their property is on the tax sale list with delinquent taxes.