Schaumburg to mail $150 gift cards (not checks) to homeowners as tax rebate sometime this month

Schaumburg trustees have approved a revised plan to mail $150 rebates to every owner-occupied residence in the village in the form of gift cards rather than checks.

The gift cards are expected to arrive by the end of the month, but no specific mailing dates will be announced.

The estimated number of eligible households was about 19,500, for a total cost to the village of approximately $2.9 million.

Mayor Tom Dailly suggested the rebate in December as a way of helping homeowners cope with the high inflation of the past year.

After weighing the pros and cons of both checks and gift cards, Schaumburg's staff and elected officials found themselves persuaded by their Elk Grove Village counterparts who endorsed a vendor that issued $200 gift cards to all 14,000 households in their town last year.

Labor, overhead costs and security issues - such as names on checks being washed out and replaces - were among the factors that were weighed as the staff considered its own recommendation between the two payment options.

Under the Cook County homeowner exemption that's being used to determine eligibility, neither renters nor their landlords are eligible for the rebate.