Cook County Board Unanimously Passes $8.15 Billion Budget for 2022

Cook County Board and Finance Committee Meetings
November 18, 2021

Prior to the Board meeting at which the budget was unanimously passed, the Finance Committee met and unanimously passed all proposed 19 amendments, which added $72.7 Million to the original $8.08 B proposal from President Preckwinkle.  Following are the main changes (most of which do not add any additional amounts to the total budget, but simply reallocate money):

• Amendments 6 and 7 moved some dollars around to fund the costs under the Office of the Chief Judge to provide 24/7 court operations for Domestic Violence court proceedings as of April 1, 2022.  This increase in court services is the response to recommendations from the Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues, the urging of a number of entities involved providing services to those impacted by domestic violence that came to the fore in July, and the active encouragement of the President and Commissioners.  The Sheriff and the Clerk of the Court both said that they could provide the necessary staffing from their areas within their proposed budgets.
• A revision of the turnover adjustment in the Office of the Chief Judge will be used to fund an increase in jury pay from $14.50 to $30.00/d plus an increase in the travel stipend from $2.70 to $5/d.  Similarly, another revision to the turnover adjustment will provide the funding to increase the rates of compensation for outside legal representation of indigents.  Both of these changes will be effective as of June 1, 2022.
• $30 M will be transferred from the County’s General Fund’s reserves to establish reserve for the Health Plan Services Fund.
• $68.8 M were added to the listing of the grants awarded to the County, $3.4 M were added to the capital projects.
• Utilizing $1.4 M from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) monies, 17 positions were added to the Offices under the President to assist with workforce development, policy analysis, facility management, and contract compliance in connection with the programs to be funded by ARPA.

In the only public comments at the Board meeting, the Civic Federation expressed its support for the proposed budget, praising the President and Board for all the steps they have taken over the years to 

• create a healthy fund balance, 
• keep control of the County’s debt, 
• shore up the pension funding, and 
• do long-range planning.  

The Civic Federation did urge that the Board seek an update on what the goals are for the use of Provident Hospital and that the Board, whose members also make up the Board of the Cook County Forest Preserve, though it is a separate government entity, have a plan to deal with the Forest Preserve should the November 2022 referendum not pass.

Observer - Priscilla Mims