Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is pitching an optimistic $9.14 billion budget for next year: no new taxes, fees or hikes — and no layoffs of government employees.
Among her priorities, Preckwinkle is bracing to pay more to help provide medical care for thousands of asylum seekers arriving in Chicago. And she plans to tap about $166 million in reserves to continue some programs the county created with federal pandemic relief dollars after that lifeline runs out in a few years.
“We’ve worked diligently to make Cook County a place of innovation, resilience and opportunity,” Preckwinkle said Thursday during her budget speech at the county’s downtown boardroom. “I can confidently say today that the financial condition of Cook County is strong.”
Preckwinkle’s pitch to the Cook County Board of Commissioners kicks off a series of public hearings and negotiations with elected and appointed county leaders who run the government’s public jail, courts and vast hospital and clinic system called Cook County Health. Commissioners typically vote on the proposed budget in November, and it takes effect on Dec. 1.
Preckwinkle’s proposed financial road map is about 4% more than this year’s budget, and it’s her second since migrants and asylum seekers started getting routinely sent here from border states just over a year ago. More than 17,000 people have arrived, according to a city spokesperson.
Cook County Health is the main health care provider for asylum seekers. During a briefing with reporters Wednesday, county leaders said the tab to treat migrants has been increasing to about $2.2 million a month as the number of buses carrying migrants climbs. Patient visits have increased about 45% in the last three months alone, Cook County Health CEO Israel Rocha Jr. said.
Preckwinkle and her executive team want to set aside an additional $10 million in next year’s budget in case the cost to treat asylum-seekers mounts even more.
“While we are in a good place now, that won’t last,” chief of staff Lanetta Haynes Turner said Wednesday. “Cook County Health and the rest of our team are really projecting out what it looks like to get that increased volume of 20 to 25 buses for however long. So we’re certainly going to need more resources.”
Preckwinkle has other ambitious plans for next year. They include pouring another $70 million into the county’s Equity Fund, bringing investments in the fund to nearly $130 million, and earmarking revenue from the Illinois gaming casino tax to permanently flow to the Equity Fund. This effort aims to make the region a more equitable place to live.
Of the $1 billion in federal pandemic relief dollars the county has received, the government has spent $291 million and plans to spend another $265 million next year. All of the money must be spent by 2026. Commissioners know they won’t be able to keep all of the dozens of programs they have started, such as guaranteed income and violence prevention programs.
That’s also why county leaders say they want to tap reserve funds — to buy time to sustain some of the programs while they search for other ways to pay for them.
In her budget speech, Preckwinkle highlighted how much pandemic-funded programs have helped county residents. She said more than 230,000 people applied for the guaranteed income program, for example — but only 3,250 people were chosen to receive $500 a month for two years. One of those recipients was Bella Magana. Preckwinkle described Magana as a new mother who, though she and her husband both work full time, struggles to afford their mortgage and child care costs.
“This program doesn’t make life perfect,” Preckwinkle said. “But now life is just a little bit better, a little bit easier, for Bella and her family.”
The board president also wants to heavily invest in expanding access to mental health and substance use treatment.
The county needs workers to accomplish all of these goals. The government has roughly 19,000 employees and about 4,650 vacancies. The county plans to eliminate just over 400 vacancies.
This summer, county leaders estimated they would head into next year with a roughly $170 million gap due to pay hikes for employees. But they say that gap has been eliminated by scrubbing jobs that have sat empty and limiting how many new jobs departments could request.
Other factors that are projected to help buoy the county coffers include people spending more money, fueling a small increase in sales, amusement and hotel taxes.
But over the next five years, the county expects to be battling deficits as several key sources of revenue decline, including cigarette and gas tax dollars.
Public hearings are scheduled for Oct. 12.
Kristen Schorsch covers public health and Cook County for WBEZ.
