cook county passes resolutionantcorruption

#COOK COUNTY PASSES RESOLUTIONANTCORRUPTION PROFESSIONAL#
#COOK COUNTY PASSES RESOLUTIONANTCORRUPTION FREE#

An extra $20 million will be spent on programs for violence prevention, reintegrating former prisoners, housing people charged with crimes released on electronic monitoring and restorative justice. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)Īnd the county also is using $50 million in pandemic assistance received this year from the federal CARES Act to cover COVID-19 contact tracing costs next year, while expecting $13.8 million from its 3% recreational cannabis tax and $3.6 million from its 2% tax on sports wagering - both of which are new revenue sources.Īlthough there’s a slight dip anticipated next year in day-to-day operating costs, Preckwinkle did manage to find some additional money to address racial inequity issues. When that money is declared a surplus, it is divided up among city tax districts, with the county getting a cut.Ĭook County Board President President Toni Preckwinkle presides over a virtual board meeting on Nov. The county also is expecting an additional $30 million or so from an increase in initially projected sales tax revenue, partly because a new law will allow for the collection of more taxes from online sales, and additional tax increment finance district funds expected to be declared as surplus by the city. They also expect additional federal money for the county’s Obamacare insurance plan that’s called Count圜are.

#COOK COUNTY PASSES RESOLUTIONANTCORRUPTION FREE#

There also were more than 100 layoffs at Cook County Health, along with consolidations and downgrades at the county’s hospitals, and an anticipated $75 million increase in revenue from insurance rate increases and newly insured patients who were receiving free health care. And the elimination of more than 500 vacant jobs - many of them in the sheriff’s office - is expected to save more than $61 million. To help close that gap, the county will draw down nearly $77 million from its general fund reserve of more than $400 million, which county officials say will still leave them with more than two months of operating funds still set aside. Preckwinkle started the budget process facing what the county estimated as a nearly $410 million shortfall for next year. The $575,000 tab for that will be covered by reducing costs in other areas. The permit fee is now $100 and will go up to $150. They also agreed to reduce a planned increase in the cremation fee to $50 from $100, after an outcry from minority funeral homeowners. That’s funded with higher-than-first-anticipated fee collections and additional reserve money. That additional $2.3 million expense is expected to be covered by higher-than-first-anticipated state funding for the county court system.Īnd commissioners also restored $2.4 million in spending to restore 46 jobs in the court system for various categories of workers, including probation officers, law clerks, social caseworkers and court coordinators. They also restored about 41 jobs slated for removal at the county Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, where some minors caught up in the criminal justice system are held.

#COOK COUNTY PASSES RESOLUTIONANTCORRUPTION PROFESSIONAL#

Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.Ĭommissioners restored about $353,000 in spending for the clinic at Morton, which was sought by Latino commissioners who viewed it as essential to community-based health care, by reducing spending on professional services at the county’s vast public health system. Msall said there’s also a possibility that the county might have to pay back some of the federal pandemic relief funds Cook County Health has received because of “revised interpretations of federal law.” To help prevent any future confusion about federal funding, Commissioner Larry Suffredin, D-Evanston, pushed through a budget amendment requiring that outside funding of that sort for the health system and the county Land Bank Authority, which works to rehabilitate homes off the property tax rolls, be approved by the County Board. Supreme Court justices seem disinclined to overturn Obamacare, it is before the court and could dramatically increase local taxpayer costs if struck down.

For next year, the subsidy will be $123 million, up from $83 million this year.Īnd, although U.S. In recent years, the local subsidy has started to climb again because more uninsured people are seeking care.

The health system, which runs two hospitals and several clinics while providing health care at the County Jail, accounts for nearly half the county’s spending. That has allowed the county to reduce the local taxpayer subsidy for Cook County Health, which now both delivers care to the needy and runs a health insurance plan under Obamacare. And county finances benefited from an influx of funding from the Affordable Care Act enacted under former President Barack Obama.

Cook county passes resolutionantcorruption