Near-unanimous Cook County Board approves $2.9 billion budget

A near unanimous Cook County Board approved next year’s $2.9 billion budget Friday that could come with hundreds of layoffs to close a $315 million spending gap.

Only Commissioner William Beavers voted against the operating plan. The vote was one of the earliest and least contentious board decisions on the county’s operating budget in recent memory.

“I want to thank (Finance Committee) Chairman John Daley and the board for approving a comprehensive and forward thinking budget that incorporates key structural changes to county operations and makes significant investments in public health and public safety,” Board President Toni Preckwinkle said. “The spirit of compromise and collaboration that allowed us to pass this budget will continue in the weeks and months ahead as we continue to address the challenges that face Cook County.”

One of those challenges is getting various unions to agree to concessions, or potentially hundreds of county employees will be laid off to make ends meet.

Part of the budget includes increased fees on liquor, tobacco and vehicles as well as new fees on such things as courthouse parking, revenue that is intended to take the place of another quarter-percent decrease in sales tax revenue.

Prior to the budget’s approval, Preckwinkle announced Friday that some jobs were saved that would have been lost in her original proposal. Eighty jobs in the state’s attorney’s and public defender’s offices were restored using funds collected from the estates of dead county residents who had no heirs.

Preckwinkle said the county would use $4.5 million from this particular fund to keep 42 positions in the state’s attorney’s office and 38 posts in the public defender’s office that were on the chopping block. That works out to an average of about $56,000 a year for the 80 jobs saved.

“After multiple conversations with the state’s attorney and public defender’s office and my colleagues on the county board, it became clear that this funding was essential to the administration of public safety in Cook County,” Preckwinkle said.

In the state’s attorney’s office, 15 lawyers, 14 victims witness staff, five investigators and eight legal support staffers had their positions saved. In the public defender’s office, 10 lawyers, 27 investigators and one administrative assistant are funded.

Preckwinkle said a “bipartisan coalition” worked together to find the funding.

Officials from Preckwinkle’s office said the coalition identified additional revenue in this heirless-estate fund above what was anticipated for the coming year.

The county is not counting on this revenue source to maintain these positions beyond next fiscal year. However, officials in Preckwinkle’s office said they expect future funding for these posts will be available from other sources and the fate of these positions won’t be an annual concern.

Earlier, Preckwinkle had backed off a plan to raise funds for sheriff’s office patrols in unincorporated areas by charging unincorporated property owners an extra $150 a year per property. Instead, a task force has been commissioned to come up with another method to fund those patrols.