Valley Hi rebate checks to be mailed Friday

The checks are coming.

Valley Hi rebate checks are scheduled to be sent out in the mail Friday.

About 60% of homeowners eligible to claim a portion of a $15 million rebate of surplus funds from the Valley Hi Nursing Home, which was approved by the McHenry County Board in April, submitted application forms.

Days after the application period ended, the county said it had received 52,777 applications, but that number was expected to rise. That could amount to more than $9.1 million in surplus funds being returned to taxpayers.

McHenry County Treasurer Glenda Miller said after the rebate period closed that 20,701 applications had been approved and 3,584 had been rejected. Letters were sent to residents whose applications were denied, giving the option to appeal the decision within 30 days of the letters being sent out, Miller said.

By the end of the application period, 52,807 applications to claim about $9.27 million were received, according to a news release from McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks.

To be eligible, homeowners must have owned and occupied their home on April 16 this year, taken the homestead exemption and have paid last year’s property tax bill in full.

If eligible, homeowners could recoup about 30% of the county government’s share of their property tax bill from last year.

More than 5,000 applications were rejected for not meeting these requirements, according to the release. Of the 304 property owners that appealed, all but 55 were granted.

Franks had estimated that by siphoning $15 million from Valley Hi’s $40 million surplus, the home still would be left with more than two years in reserve funding, not including the uncollected money from the rebate.

By going to the “Valley Hi Rebate FAQ” page of the McHenry County website, residents can click on a searchable list of applicants to confirm that their forms were received. However, this list does not indicate which applications were approved or denied.

Any unclaimed funds will be returned to Valley Hi.