Pulaski County, IL Property Records: Search Deeds, Owners, Tax Records, and Maps

Property records in Pulaski County are spread across three offices serving a small county anchored by Mound City. The County Clerk doubles as Recorder of Deeds. The Supervisor of Assessments handles parcel data, and the Treasurer handles tax bills.

Pulaski County's housing market is made up mostly of older single-family homes. Located near the meeting point of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, the county has experienced a long-term population decline. As a result, homes in the county typically remain on the market for 100 to 130 days before selling. Most housing activity is concentrated in Mounds, Mound City, Karnak, and Olmsted.

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How to Look Up Pulaski County Property Records

Property records in Pulaski County are available through three online search systems. The Assessor’s Property Tax Search covers assessment information by address or Property Index Number (PIN), the Treasurer’s portal covers tax bills and payments, and recorded land documents – liens, deeds, and foreclosure notices – can be searched through the Clerk’s Land Records Search. For real estate documents that are not available online, call the County Clerk at (618) 748-9360 or visit the office in Mound City.

Who Keeps Pulaski County Property Records?

In Pulaski County, three elected offices share the property-records workload. The Freedom of Information Act at 5 ILCS 140 governs public access. The Property Tax Code at 35 ILCS 200 governs assessment and collection. Here's how the three offices divide responsibility:

• The Supervisor of Assessments sets assessed values for every parcel, processes the homestead-exemption applications that reduce tax bills, and updates the parcel database that the Treasurer relies on.

• The County Clerk and Recorder houses all recorded real estate documents in Pulaski County, including deeds, mortgages, liens, plats, and easements. The county combines this role with the County Clerk position under one elected official.

• The County Treasurer mails the annual tax bills, processes payments, runs the annual tax sale, and handles redemption from tax buyers.

Pulaski County was organized in 1843 and named for Casimir Pulaski, the Polish-born Continental Army cavalry general killed at the Siege of Savannah in 1779.

How to Search Pulaski County Property Records Online

Online property research in Pulaski County means moving across three portals. One office handles ownership and assessment. Another handles deeds and liens. A third handles tax bills and payment status. This sequence works for nearly every search task:

1. Open the Supervisor of Assessments portal. Search by address, by owner's last name, or by PIN if you have it. The result shows ownership, assessed value, sales history, exemption status, and the property's class designation under 35 ILCS 200.

2. Then check tax-bill status through the Treasurer's portal. This is where you see what the property owes, what's already been paid, the breakdown by school, county, township, and municipal levies, and whether anything has gone delinquent.

3. For deeds and other recorded documents, use the County Clerk and Recorder's search. Most Pulaski County searches accept grantor name, grantee name, document number, PIN, or date range. Some counties offer free guest access; others use Tapestry or Laredo for paid full access.

4. Walk the chain of title back from the most recent recorded deed. The grantor on each older deed must match the grantee on the deed that came after. If a name doesn't line up, you've found a gap that needs research.

5. For parcel mapping, the county GIS portal is the source. Layers include parcels, zoning, school districts, voting precincts, and floodplains. Aerial imagery is usually available at multiple recent dates.

Assessor: Ownership, Values, and Parcel Data

Pulaski County's assessment work runs through the Supervisor of Assessments' office. The office maintains parcel data, equalizes township-level work, administers exemptions, and serves as Clerk of the Board of Review during the appeal season.

County Clerk and Recorder: Deeds, Mortgages, and Liens

The County Clerk and Recorder’s office is the public registry for title documents in Pulaski County. The office records, indexes, and makes available every deed, mortgage, lien, and related instrument affecting real property in the county.

Treasurer: Tax Bills and Payments

Tax-bill work in Pulaski County runs through the Treasurer's office. The office bills property taxes annually, accepts payments, conducts the annual tax sale, and handles owner redemptions after a sale.

Property Tax in Pulaski County: Rates, Exemptions, and Appeals

Property tax in Pulaski County works the same way as in most Illinois counties: a third-of-market-value assessment ratio, state equalization, statutory exemptions, and then a stack of taxing-district rates. The local detail is in which exemption tiers apply and what the township assessor structure looks like.

Homestead exemptions

Several homestead exemptions reduce the equalized assessed value before the tax rates apply. These are the most commonly used in Pulaski County:

• General Homestead Exemption: Up to $6,000 EAV reduction for owner-occupied homes (35 ILCS 200/15-175). Pulaski County uses the baseline tier (applicable in most Illinois counties) under the three-tier statutory structure.

• Senior Homestead Exemption: Up to $5,000 EAV reduction for owners 65 and older under 35 ILCS 200/15-170.

• Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze: Freezes assessed value at a base year for seniors with household income at or below $75,000 (indexed to CPI from 2026).

• Disabled Veterans Standard Homestead: Tiered by VA disability rating: $2,500 EAV at 30-49%, $5,000 at 50-69%, full exemption at 70%+.

• Persons with Disabilities and Home Improvement: $2,000 EAV reduction for permanent disability; separate four-year exemption shielding up to $75,000 of improvement value.

Appealing an assessment

The Illinois two-step appeal process applies in Pulaski County. The Board of Review hears the first round (30-day filing window after the notice). The Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board hears the second round on appeal from the Board's decision.

GIS Maps and Parcel Viewer

Pulaski County maintains a GIS portal layering parcels, zoning, school districts, voting precincts, and floodplains over recent aerial imagery. The viewer is web-based, and most layers download as shapefiles.

• County GIS portal: The county's web GIS layers parcels, zoning, and floodplains with recent aerial imagery for Pulaski County.

• Illinois Geological Survey clearinghouse: The state-level ISGS clearinghouse hosts statewide layers including soil, hydrology, and DEM data.

Foreclosure and the Annual Tax Sale

The two foreclosure pathways in Pulaski County run through different offices. Mortgage foreclosure is judicial under 735 ILCS 5/15-1101, handled by the Circuit Court. Tax-delinquency foreclosure runs through the Treasurer's annual tax sale under 35 ILCS 200, Article 21.

Annual tax sale

Each year, the Treasurer publishes a list of tax-delinquent parcels and conducts a public tax sale. Buyers bid the penalty rate down from 9%; the lowest rate wins. The winning buyer gets a tax certificate (a lien claim, not title).

Right of redemption

The redemption right runs about 2 to 2.5 years from the sale date. The Property Tax Code at 35 ILCS 200/21-345 sets the math. The owner pays original taxes plus a penalty at the buyer's winning rate (compounded semi-annually), buyer costs, and any subsequent-year taxes the buyer has paid.

Scavenger sales

A scavenger sale runs every two years under 35 ILCS 200/21-145 for properties that have been delinquent three or more years and didn't sell at the annual tax sale. Bidding is on a dollar amount rather than a penalty rate.

Costs to Access Property Records

Looking up Pulaski County property records online is free across all three county offices. Fees apply when you need a copy of a recorded document or are filing a new document for recording.

Illinois moved most counties to a single flat fee per document class in 2019. Pulaski County operates under that Predictable Fee Schedule, codified at 55 ILCS 5/3-5018.1. Non-conforming documents – wrong paper, wrong margins, missing data – incur the doubled penalty fee.

On top of the recording fee, Illinois imposes a state real-estate transfer tax of $0.50 per $500 of consideration. Pulaski County adds another $0.25 per $500. Most municipalities outside Chicago and a few suburbs do not impose a separate transfer tax.

How to Record a Document

Document recording in Pulaski County follows four steps. The path applies whether you're filing a deed, mortgage release, lien, or any other instrument affecting title:

1. Verify the document is properly formatted: Under 55 ILCS 5/3-5018.2, documents need 8.5"x11" white paper at 20-lb or better, black ink only, half-inch margins all around, and a blank 3"x5" space in the upper-right corner of page one for the recording stamp.

2. Calculate the recording fee from the county's Predictable Fee Schedule: Non-conforming documents are charged double under 55 ILCS 5/3-5018.1, so making sure your document meets formatting requirements saves money.

3. For property-transfer documents, complete the PTAX-203 through Illinois MyDec before filing: The MyDec submission produces a stamp number that goes on the deed. Pulaski County participates in MyDec like all Illinois counties.

4. File at the County Clerk and Recorder: in person at 500 Illinois Ave, Mound City, IL 62963; by mail to P.O. Box 118 with check or money order; or via an e-recording vendor (Simplifile and CSC handle most Pulaski County electronic filings). Recording typically completes within two to three business days.

The recording number assigned by the office becomes the permanent locator for the document. Note it down; any future title search or document copy request uses this number as the primary lookup key.

FAQs

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