The Opposite of Making a Bill Easy to Pay
I'm no Warren Buffet but I thought I heard somewhere that in business it's a good idea to try and make it as easy as possible for your customers or clients to pay your bills. I know we're always thinking about this issue with our monthly client statements whether it means accepting credit cards, sending statements via e-mail, allowing Internet bill pay, or just including a self-addressed stamped envelope so all a client has to do is write a check and drop it in the mail. You'd be amazed at what a difference just enclosing an envelope and $.42 stamp did for speed of client payments.
And then there's the Cook County Treasurer's Office...
We represent the Estate of a gentleman who died within the last 6 months or so who owned a home in Cook County. There's upwards of $800,000 in this Estate working it's way through probate court and no surprise the home has yet to sell. And we need to pay the 2007 Second Installment tax bill. But for whatever reason my client, the executor of the Estate, who has had the decedent's mail forwarded to his house hasn't gotten the tax bill.
Well, the Treasurer will not let us pay the bill unless we have an original tax bill coupon included with the check. They don't want our money! A check with a PIN and address and for the specific amount listed as due on the Website isn't enough...they want their coupons!
So I'll be stopping by the Treasurer's Office tomorrow as part of my Daley Center morning and ordering a duplicate tax bill copy at the County Administration Building.
Why is the coupon so important? Isn't it the tax revenue they're after?
posted by Peter @ 4:02 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Peter,
It's called fleecing the taxpayers! This is how Collector Pappas funds the 534 Tax Sale Automation Fund.
The one dollar that you are paying and the $5.00 per bill that the mortgage companies pay all goes into the aforementioned Tax Sale Automation Fund even though...get this...the Tax Sale has ALREADY been automated!!!
It's called: How do you pry a funding source from a crooked politician???
Answer: You don't!! You let her continue to fornicate you as long as she can.
How do I know this you might ask??? I know a fellow whom worked in the Collectors office for 9.5 years until Collector Pappas realized that he's a threat to her freedom and as a result she charged him with 5...count em five (5) counts of "Official Misconduct." I know whom the crook is here...and it's not the tax paying public. See 06 CR 550501 or 06 CR 1942701 People v. Jonathan Martin
I think you can pay online on the Cook County Treasurer's web site.
I do know you can pay online. But with an Estate we're not going to get a credit card because all we're really doing is holding the money until we can distribute to beneficiaries.
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