Shorewood's Checks in the Mail

A lot of Shorewood residents are going to have a check for about $50 burning a hole in their pocket pretty soon.

That's right, Shorewood — you're about to come into some money. And that's because the started mailing out property tax rebate checks on Tuesday.

"We thought it's best to get the money into people's hands as soon as possible," said village Trustee Dan Gron, who chairs Shorewood's Finance & Budget Committee.

The money for the property tax rebate came from the 1 percent sales tax approved by a referendum in the November 2010 election. The sales tax money offsets a quarter of the Village of Shorewood's portion of a resident's property tax bill. The remaining funds generated through the sales tax increase went toward buying waste water treatment capacity from the City of Joliet.

Checks are going out to 5,450 Shorewood residents, Gron said, and the average check is for about $50.

The village of Shorewood's portion of a resident's tax bill is 4 percent, he said.

Gron was hopeful that in future years the rebate might cover even more of the village's portion of the property tax bill, possibly offsetting all of it.

"We'll see what we can do next year," he said.