New Lenox to Mail $700K in Tax Rebates This Week

New Lenox will give back $704,095 in 2010 property taxes to residents this year after increasing the amount it refunds to 50 percent.

In October, the Village Board agreed to , up from 40 percent the previous year. For the average resident, that meant an additional $30 back on their 2010 taxes, which were paid in 2011.

Finance director Kim Auchstetter said the village received about 5,500 applications for the rebate after mailing about 7,500 refund forms. That means the average home received about $128 back from the village.

The deadline to apply was Dec. 15, 2011. Last year, according to previous articles, the village received close to 6,000 applications and refunded about $560,000 total.

When asked residents to give it home rule status in 2008, thus increasing sales tax by 1 percent, officials promised to rebate 33 percent of residents' property tax bills.

In 2010, the first year of rebates, the village went above that promise and refunded 40 percent of property taxes. In the program's second year, that will increase to half the property tax dollars collected.

Mayor Tim Baldermann said that ultimately, the Village Board's goal is to rebate 100 percent of property taxes.

Last year, the board , but said residents would still see an overall savings, in part because of the property tax rebate.