Cook County Board Finance Committee Meeting

Cook County Board of Commissioners Committee Meeting
May 15, 202

Finance Committee - Meeting called to order at 9:30am and adjourned at 12:20pm.

• CCH monthly report (24-1413) on revenues and expenses through March 31, 2024 was received and filed.  There was a favorable variance. $170M is owed by the State to Cook County. Chair Daley stated this was a normal amount, much less than previously owed. In response to Com. Stamps question when it was expected to be collected, the response that it could be up to a year or more, depending on federal monies.
• Regarding new ordinance requiring all public officials of Cook County to invest public funds in interest-bearing accounts (24-2238), except where prohibited by law, it was stated that these will be deposited with the State of IL. Referred to CCBC. 
• Resolution (24-1676) to reduce ARPA amount to Arts Alliance of Illinois and enter into a new subrecipient agreement with LISC Chicago for up to $2M was deferred until the next Finance meeting.  Several commissioners had questions regarding LISC Chicago and details on how the monies were to be used by them. It was determined that a LISC representative and one from the Arts Alliance would be present at the next meeting to answer further questions rather than leaving it to the Bureau of Economic Development. 
• Proposed increase of $3.68M of ARPA funds for continued implementation of Water Affordability Program (24-1503) was approved. Com Gainer stated important progress has been made in this compared to a year ago. The waiving of late fees and interest charges were at issue. Several commissioners stated this was a better way to spend ARPA funding, for water rather than for fines. Cost increases on water services to communities was questioned. In response, Bureau of Economic Development representative stated that there are charges cover the following: High cost of maintaining infrastructure including service lines and replacing lead service lines, removing contaminants, replacing water mains. A program for targeted assistance to individual municipalities is being administered by the state. Com Miller asked if there could be more support for communities to understand what programs are available, why a denial might have occurred, and what they had not applied for but might have. 

Observer: Carolyn Cosentino