Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas said today that 110,274 taxpayers have failed to claim $109,481,772 in property tax refunds over the past five tax years. Taxpayers can contact her office by telephone or the internet to determine whether they have an unclaimed refund, Pappas said.

During the tax years involved -- 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 - Pappas' office issued 80,002 refunds totaling $153,273,790. However, not all taxpayers who could have qualified for refunds applied for them during those five tax years, Pappas said.

The unclaimed 110,274 refunds are duplicates or overpayments. A duplicate payment occurs when two or more payments are made on a property tax installment; an overpayment typically occurs when a single payment of too much money is paid on an installment.

Taxpayers can learn if they have an unclaimed refund from the past five years by going to the Treasurer's web site at www.cookcountytreasurer.com, which provides refund information in 13 languages, or by calling the office at (312) 443-5100 to speak to an operator who will provide assistance.

Besides English, the languages on the web site are Albanian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, German, Korean, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish and Ukrainian.

Effective in mid-August, Pappas said, the phone number will be served by an automated system that will allow callers to check on refunds 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in English, Spanish and Polish. Callers will enter a Property Index Number and ask for refund information by touching the appropriate phone keys. The new phone system also will provide payment status.

"We have made every effort to make refunds and other property-tax information accessible in 13 languages on our web site and with our new automated phone system," Pappas said. "Refunds are money that belong not to government, but to property owners."