Cook County Treasurer's Office - 11/7/2001

More than $3 billion is being distributed from current tax revenues to local governments across Cook County, and this year's distributions are being made faster than any year in memory, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas said today.

As of November 1, Pappas' Office had distributed 89 percent of the year's total property-tax levy of $7.8 billion. The $3 billion now being distributed is from the collection period ended November 1. Some $4 billion from first-installment revenues already had been distributed.

"We are turning this money around as fast as possible to help local governments," Pappas said.

Yearly, the Cook County Treasurer's Office collects nearly $8 billion in two tax installments on 1.6 million pieces of property. The Office deposits the revenues in County bank accounts, then distributes the money, with interest, to 1,600 local taxing bodies in Cook County.

Through September, the interest on the invested funds totaled $14 million and also was being sent to the local governments. Pappas has developed investment policies to increase interest earnings; interest totaled $5 million before she became Treasurer in December of 1998.