RTA, CTA, Metra and Pace present budgets to Cook County Board Transportation Committee

Cook County Board Committee Meetings - November 18, 2020
9:30 am to 1:15 pm

Items of interest: 

Transportation Committee
RTA, CTA, Metra, and Pace presented their annual budgets for fiscal year 2021 to the Cook County Board of Commissioners. RTA and the three service Boards CTA, Metra, and Pace presented their budgets as required per statue. (20-4646).  

• Presenters reported that this year has been a challenging year for transportation, due to COVID-19 and the stay-at-home order. There has been a 70% decrease in ridership in all public transportation. Loss of revenue because of decrease in ridership and the extra cost of providing extra sanitizing to trains and buses which  was expensive. There is currently a $500M shortfall.  All stated that transportation is critical especially during this time for Chicago and suburban areas. RTA and the other transit agencies have received some money from the federal government through Federal CARES Act and hope to receive more. To view the RTA Budget, go to www.rtachicago.org and you can go to the CTA, Metra and Pace websites. 
• Commissioners commended the RTA, CTA, Metra and Pace for all of their hard work to make transportation run as smoothly as possible during these challenging times. Commissioners asked few questions about the budget but voiced concerns from their constituents about using the transportation system.  

Rules Committee:

• Proposed Ordinance Amendment Juneteenth recognized as a Cook County Holiday (Agenda Item 20-3460). This item was deferred back to the Rules committee as Commissioner Deer was unable to attend the meeting today (an excused absence). Commissioner Daley did not state when it would be back on the agenda.

Technology Committee:

• Thomas Lynch, Chief Information Officer Bureau of Technology gave two reports the Semi-Annual Report and IT Major Projects Report (Agenda Items 20-4380 and 20-4679).  Mr. Lynch reported that with IT Major Projects there are four current projects: (1) Unified Communication, (2) Tyler IS World- online appeals for assessor, (3) Justice Exchange, and (4) Integrated Revenue Tax System. 
• Commissioner Sean Morrison wanted to make it clear that they needed full cooperation  from all elected officials especially from the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court, Chief Judge and Sheriff’s office with the Bureau of Technology.  Commissioner S. Morrison stated that this has been an issue for a while, and it needs to be dealt with. 

Observer - Nancy Marcus