Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas announced that her office is mailing the final round of notices for 72,000 delinquencies for 2000 taxes that were due last year. Delinquency lists also are being published in the coming week in area newspapers.

Both the certified-mail notices and the publications are required by state law. Two rounds of notices also were mailed earlier in December and January.

The list includes 71,289 delinquencies on general taxes from 2000 taxes that were due in 2001. The list also includes 1,302 properties from Arlington Heights, Chicago, Evanston, Orland Park and Palos Park that have payments due 13 months ago for special assessments for alleys, water lines, sewer service and other local projects.

Payments to remove properties from the tax-sale list must be made by certified check, cashier's check or money order, and, if in person, cash. These payments must be submitted at or mailed to the Cook County Treasurer's Office, 118 N. Clark St., Room 112, Chicago IL 60602. Taxpayers must include any penalties and publication costs due on the dates they are making payments for these delinquencies.

Current-year taxes (2001 due in 2002) may still be made at area LaSalle Banks or on the Internet at www.cookcountytreasurer.com, but these options cannot be used to pay past-year delinquencies that are now on the tax-sale list.

"Taxpayers may check the 2000 taxes by clicking on 'payment status' at www.cookcountytreasurer.com and then entering the 14-digit property index number, " Pappas said. "For faster service, we recommend taxpayers with Internet access submit any questions about delinquencies to info@cookcountytreasurer.com."

"We are also advising taxpayers that if their mortgage companies have failed to pay or paid on the wrong property, they need to call and write to those companies immediately to make sure that payments are made," Pappas said. "If the borrower is up to date on escrow, the federal and state laws hold the loan servicer responsible for any late fees or penalties. Too many times, we hear from taxpayers who ignored notices, because they thought the mortgage company could take care of it."

In coming weeks, Pappas also will continue with her program of distributing tax-sale lists to church leaders and elected officials in the area, including county commissioners and Chicago aldermen, so that they may alert affected homeowners.