CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Cook County officials said about 30 suburbs have applied for a share of federal coronavirus relief money that’s available to them and the county is encouraging more to get their applications in before it’s too late.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said she doesn’t want suburbs to lose out.
"I’m encouraging all local governments eligible for relief funds to submit their paperwork quickly to avoid leaving vital money on the table," she said.
The county’s chief financial officer Ammar Rizki said, "one of the reason why folks are not taking advantage of this is, there may be a misconception that this is a very difficult process."
Preckwinkle said one village that quickly took advantge of the CARES Act money is Schaumburg.
"Schaumburg was able to visit our website, quickly fill out the necessary paperwork, and receive the check in the mail shortly thereafter," she said.
Mayor Dailly said the village received the money about three weeks after applying.
The $556,000 Schaumburg received three weeks after applying has gone for retrofitting parts of the village hall with plastic shields to make village employee/resident interactions COVID-safe and to buy COVID-related safety equipment for the fire department.
Dailly said the amount of money received was fair, but he half-jokes Schaumburg could have used a million dollars more than what it received, since unexpected coronavirus expenses were so high.
The deadline for applying for the money is Sept. 30; and the deadline for the county distributing the money is Dec. 30.
President Preckwinkle said the National Association of Counties recently praised the county's "equitable distribution formula" which includes "the immediate needs of the municipality to respond to the pandemic, the municipal population, municipal immediate income, municipal public health statistics."
State Representative Michelle Mussman joined Preckwinkle in encouraging municipalities to apply for the money. She notes that some suburbs may not think they have large enough staff to be able to apply, but she encourage them saying, "Gathering this information can be an administrative burden for everyone, but I also want to encourage you to prioritize finding the way to do that. Cook County is here to assist you and walk you through this process to make it as easy as possible."