Staff Attorney

Duties and Responsibilities of the Cook County Treasurer
In Cook County, the County Treasurer oversees the second-largest property tax collection and distribution system in the United States. Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas is responsible for:

• Printing and mailing bills based on the data provided by other county and state agencies on assessments, exemptions and tax rates
• Collection of $16.1 billion each year in taxes from the owners of more than 1.8 million parcels of property
• Distribution of the tax funds to approximately 2,200 local government agencies that have the jurisdiction to collect taxes. The agencies include school districts, villages, cities, townships, park and forest preserve systems, libraries, public health and safety agencies, election authorities, economic-development agencies and bonds to pay for public-works projects

Treasurer Pappas also must maintain an investment policy and strategy to address:

• Conformance with federal and state laws and local ordinances
• Safety of principal to avoid any risk of loss of public funds
• Diversity of type, maturity and institution to help manage the risk and principal
• Liquidity of funds to provide sufficient funds to meet obligations as they become due
• Returns on investments or yields that provide performance measures with return on investments to be secondary to the role of protecting the safety and liquidity features of the policy

Treasurer Pappas must receive and safely keep the revenues and other public funds of the County and all money and funds authorized by law to be paid to her and disburse the same pursuant to law. Under Illinois law, Treasurer Pappas appoints her deputies, assistants and personnel to assist her in the performance of her duties.

Treasurer Pappas must file regular reports with the President of the County Board to summarize the financial status of her office in the format deemed necessary by the County Board.

Under state law, Treasurer Pappas' office also maintains special funds, from which the County Board shall authorize payments by voucher between board meetings, to include:

• Reasonable amounts needed during the accounting period to pay office expenses, postage, freight, express or similar charges
• Funds to pay necessary travel, dues and other expenses for workshops, educational seminars and organizational meetings established for the purpose of providing in-service training
• Trust funds for such purposes as may be provided for by law
• The Treasurer shall make a monthly accounting to the County Board through the County Clerk of all other special funds maintained by her in the discharge of her duties

In addition, Treasurer Pappas is required by law to:

• Prepare delinquency tax lists and send notices to the last known taxpayer(s) of record
• Obtain a tax-sale judgment order in court
• Conduct an annual sale of tax liens to seek payment of delinquent taxes

Under Illinois law, Treasurer Pappas' office also oversees the process of refunding overpayments of taxes. There are varying statutes of limitation depending upon the type of refund. All refund applications must be submitted on or before the expiration of the specific statute of limitation, which begins on the date the right to the refund arose. These refunds are for overpayments that occur through:

• Duplicate payments of the same taxes
• Overpayments of the amount due
• Reductions in assessments after the original billing as authorized by various tax-assessment agencies or the courts
• Reductions in tax rates after the original billings as authorized by the courts