Property Tax Rebate, Dog Park Coming in 2013 and More (Live Blog Transcript)

Update: 10:15 p.m., Monday, Aug. 6, 2012

Orland Park home and property owners will be getting a property tax rebate from the village in 2013.

Orland Park’s Village Board all voted in favor of the rebate. Trustee James Dodge did not attend the meeting.

Each person who qualifies will be getting the same amount of money out of a total of $2.5 million that will be rebated from village funds. Exactly how much money that will be depends on the number of qualifying applicants, though the villages has estimated that if about 19,000 property owners qualify they will receive about $131 each.

Orland Park staff will be working on ways to make portions of the application process electronic, though previous application methods will still likely be used, said village manager Paul Grimes.

“No matter how they submit it, even if they submit it electronically, you still need someone on the back end to verify (the information),” Grimes said. “That’s the administrative challenge we have. But we’ll work on some ways to make it easy for people to submit their applications.”

The tentative timeline is for applications to begin in October with a December deadline, and the rebate checks are expected to be sent in March, Grimes said.

Mayor Dan McLaughlin said the rebate, as was voted on Monday night, is only for this year’s taxes. Next year, the board will have to discuss a different rebate, he said.

“Each year we’ll decide if we will do a rebate, how much it will be and the process of distributing it. So each year it could change,” McLaughlin said after the meeting. “We’re just happy to give something back. Even a small amount helps.”

Qualifications include whether a person lives in the house, and if he or she is up to date on bills, McLaughlin said.

New Dog Park in the Works

A new dog park is planned to be added to Centennial Park next year.

The village and Orland Township have made an inter-governmental agreement to split the cost for a new three-acre dog park to be built in 2013.

The estimated total cost is $182,761 for the park.

Original Post: 5:55 a.m., Monday, Aug. 6, 2012

is one vote away from making a $2.5 million property tax rebate official.

At the July 2 finance meeting, trustees gave an initial thumbs up to the rebate proposal, which is expected to return about .

Staff still has to plan a method to accept applications from property owners, which could include computer-based submissions.

If the board gives the final approval Monday night, the application process is expected to begin around late October and early November, with the payouts expected during March 2013.

The entire program is expected to cost about $2.8 million. View the attached document for a list of funding sources for the rebate.

The village’s parks and recreation, technology and finance committees will also be meeting Monday night, starting at 6 p.m., before the full village board. Packets for the other meetings are also attached here.

Orland Park Patch’s live blog through Scribble It will provide minute-by-minute updates from the meeting on this page starting at 6 p.m. Look in the Scribble It window above, and you’ll see an area where you can join in and offer your comments and questions. The same rules apply as on finished articles on the site.

Leading up to the meeting, let me know if there's anything you particularly want to know about in the comments.

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