Cook County Board Passes Balanced $6.2 Billion Budget for 2020

Cook County Board Finance Committee Meeting and Board Meeting  November 21, 2019

After the Finance Committee considered and passed 15 amendments to the proposed budget, the Cook County Board then passed the 2020 budget, as amended. (Item 19-5916) by a vote of 15 yeas, 1 nay, and 1 absent.  The one negative vote was cast by Commissioner Sean Morrison who expressed concern over the total size of the budget and how it has more than doubled since 2011.  He said that he would have preferred to maintain the amount budgeted for 2019 and use the additional revenues to further bolster the pension fund.  Commissioner Morrison did not, however, offer any amendments to do so.  Commissioner Tobolski was absent, as he was throughout the budget meetings.

The 15 amendments that were passed added an additional $23 million to the proposed budget which came from:

• additional grants that were identified ($10 million), 
• a larger than expected TIF surplus declared by Chicago ($9 million), and 
• the rest from utilizing monies in several Special Purpose Funds

The amendments included:

• $1.5 million to fund Access to Care, which carried a requirement of quarterly reports to identify where patients live in Cook County to see whether in fact these patients would otherwise have cost Cook County Health significant dollars by having to provide these patients uncompensated care.  It was stressed the money to fund Access to Care came from a one-time revenue source (the TIF surplus) and the County did not expect to provide funding beyond 2020.
• A reduction of $140,000 from the Clerk of the Court’s budget to be used to fund a pilot program for the State’s Attorney to aid those who are victims of domestic violence.  The Clerk of the Court’s representative expressed support for the program, but opposition to reducing that budget.  Most of the money came from two positions that have not been filled since 2016.  Commissioner Anaya, the sponsor, explained that this amendment was very personal to her as she had grown up in a household with domestic violence and she did not understand until later that her mother did not leave because she felt she had nowhere to turn.
• $300,000 from an unfilled Manager of Records Management position in the Clerk’s office and some of the TIF surplus to fund the recently passed Voting Opportunity & Translation Equity Ordinance that requires ballots and related material to be translated into additional languages.
• $500,000 transferred within Cook County Health’s budget to fund prevention efforts and testing for sexually transmitted infections.
• $120,000 from the Solid Waste Special Purpose Fund to provide up to 2 schools with solar paneled roofs and funds to develop related STEM-related programs (science, technology, engineering, and math).

Chairman Daley and Commissioner Silvestri thanked a number of people at the end, including the League for observing the budget meetings and providing questions for a number of departments.

Observer:  Priscilla Mims