Normal, IL, USA / www.cities929.com Jul 13, 2021 | 3:51 PM (The Center Square) – While Illinois’ 45 largest cities are making decisions about their share of federal tax dollars for COVID-19 relief, more than 1,250 cities across the state are still waiting for the first half of a combined $742 million in federal aid. The Pritzker administration has Illinois as one of eleven states in the nation that haven’t requested federal tax dollars for smaller communities. Of the $162 billion federal taxpayers are on the hook for in pandemic assistance to Illinois, more than $8 billion is directly for state government. The state’s 45 cities with more than 50,000 people share $2.7 billion. Chicago gets nearly $1.9 billion.