Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas said today that 89,446 fewer taxpayers paid property taxes at her downtown and suburban offices, and 40,969 more went to LaSalle Bank branches during the collection period ended November 1.

Pappas said three of her five suburban satellite offices will close until the next collection period, and personnel from those offices will be reassigned. Pappas noted that for the collection period ended Thursday, November 1:

• There were 238,373 payments at LaSalle branches, up by 40,969 from the previous payment period earlier this year.
• Payments at the five suburban satellite offices fell by 51,394.
• Payments at the County Building in downtown Chicago fell by 38,052.

Effective Wednesday (November 7), the Treasurer's offices at the Skokie Courthouse, 5600 Old Orchard Road; Maywood Courthouse, 1500 Maywood Drive; and Bridgeview Courthouse, 10200 South 76th Avenue, will close, then reopen in late January for the next collection period, the due date of which will be March 1, 2002.

Operations continue at the Rolling Meadows Courthouse at 2121 Euclid Avenue; Markham Courthouse at 165th Street and Kedzie Avenue; and County Building at 118 N. Clark St., Chicago.

Most payments on Cook County's 1.6 million pieces of real estate are made by mail and electronic transfer. To give taxpayers more options, Pappas inaugurated payments at LaSalle's 126 branches after becoming Cook County Treasurer in December of 1998. Since then, the number of payments at LaSalle branches has more than doubled.

"Clearly, going to LaSalle Banks means convenience for taxpayers and efficiency for our office," Pappas said.