Preckwinkle $9.9 billion balanced budget proposal calls for no new taxes, fees or fines
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s $9.9 billion budget proposal for next year calls for no new taxes, fees or fines.
The county is eliminating 56 vacant positions and dipping into reserves to cover any projected revenue shortfalls instead.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi is slated to see his office’s headcount grow however, with six new positions proposed to mainly help with residential assessments throughout the county.
The majority of the budget covers the county’s health care system, followed by public safety costs, which include the sheriff, courts, state’s attorney and public defender. Combined, those two components of the county’s budget proposal account for almost $7 billion.
Preckwinkle said the proposal builds on 14 years of careful financial planning, and she praised the efforts of her budget team to stabilize the county’s pension system, which is anticipated to be fully funded by 2055. Currently, the pension system is about 70% funded.
The county’s financial fortunes also were assisted by higher than anticipated revenues from sales taxes, which generated about $60 million more last year than in 2023, according to budget records.
Costs expected for asylum-seekers bused here from out of state were not as high as initially anticipated last year either, Preckwinkle noted. She said several suburbs benefited from county assistance for migrants.
“We supported communities outside the city who agreed to house and feed new arrivals,” she said.
The county is expecting to start the year with a $218 million shortfall, but is helping close that gap with $145 million from its reserve fund.