By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO) The latest figures on Cook County homeowners pre-paying their property taxes finds 126,000 people paying $748 million.

So long as the payments were made or postmarked before midnight New Year’s Eve, they qualify to beat the $10,000 cap on federal income tax deductions this year.

And here’s where Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas says the early money goes, “The windfall is 6% to the county, 55% to Chicago public schools, and 28% to the City of Chicago. Those governments are getting money in January that they would not have seen until April.”

The whole experience has Pappas vowing to make a big push for electonic billing from now on.

@ 2017 WLS-AM News