Latest statewide property tax extension statistics show that while local taxes went up 5.9%, park district levies only increased 4.6%. These and 142 pages of other 1977 property tax statistics for taxes collected in 1976 provide many interesting comparisons for local commissioner-taxpayer and commissioner-legislator discussions. Those interested in the fine print may write the Department of Local Government Affairs for the complete report. For this review, we have picked out some of the more interesting numbers for your review.

PROPERTY TAX EXTENSIONS BY TYPES OF DISTRICTS — 1977
Type	Number	% of #	Amount	% of Amount
Schools	1,097	19.6	2,142,930,589	57.8
Cities, Villages, Towns	1,269	22.6	728,112,177	19.3
Counties	102	1.8	315,709,904	8.3
Parks	345	6.2	180,625,230	4.8
Townships	1,541	27.5	143,676,244	3.7
Sanitary	160	2.9	122,966,743	3.2
All Other	1,087	19.4	108,780,189	2.9
	5,601	100.00	3,742,801,076	100.00

TAXIES LEVIED FOR PARK AND RECREATION PURPOSES — 1977
District	Amount	Percentage
Park	$180,625,230	78.7
Forest Preserve	38,619,450	16.8
Conservation	2,462,320	1.0
Cities, Towns, Villages band	597,119	0.3
park	3,196,895	1.4
playground	4,289,367	1.8
	$229,790,381	100.0

For the 1977 tax year, 345 park districts levied $180,625,230 in taxes for all purposes. While park districts are 6.2% of all local governments in Illinois, they only collected 4.8% of local property taxes. After several years of no growth, the number of governing bodies took a jump from 5,420 in 1974 to 5,601 in 1977. New Fire (59), Library (22), River Conservancy (16), School (12), Sanitary (11), and Park (34) districts lead the increase. All local governments levied $3,742,801,076 for a 5.9% increase over 1976. Schools collected the most, followed by towns-villages-cities, counties, and NUMBER 4 - PARK DISTRICTS.

Some facts should be remembered when we are looking at the role of special district park districts in Illinois. While Illinois has 1,269 cities-towns-villages, there were only 345 park districts in 1977. It might be noted that the amount of taxes levied by cities-towns-villages included $597,119 for bands, $3,196,895 for parks, and $4,289.367 for playgrounds. Only 4 counties of the 102 in Illinois levy more than the statewide average for all park districts (4.9%). The majority of all counties have no park district levies or levy under 1%. The prime reason for this imbalance is that most park districts are in Cook County (93) and Cook County accounts for 54.2% of all the property taxes levied in Illinois.

Several other key points are listed. Of the top five tax collecting districts, only the park districts are left out of state and federal distributions of operating funds. A major source of park district funds is local fees and charges that are paid in addition to local property taxes. While some 24% of Illinois communities have a continuous source of local park and recreation support, most of the state does not. Statewide park districts and forest preserves supply 95.8% of all tax supported local park systems. Most of the remaining 4.2% is collected in communities that have park districts. It is clear park districts are doing a good job but it looks as if we could do much better in parts of Illinois.

PERCENTAGE OF PARK DISTRICT TAXES VS NUMBER OF COUNTIES — 1977
Percentage of Taxes	No. of Counties
6.6	1	Cook
5.9	1	Macon
5.5	1	Clark
5.3	1	Peoria
4.3 to 4.9	3
3.1 to 3.9	8
2.2 to 2.9	12
1.2 to 1.9	17
0.1 to 0.9	25
0.0 to 0.0	33
	102

Illinois Parks and Recreation 22 July/August, 1979