Cook County Board President Talks Budget on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight”

By Sebastian James at October 26, 2011 | 10:33 am | Print

 
 
 

 
From WTTW.org, Tuesday, October 25th:

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle presented her Executive Recommendation for the 2012 Budget, on Tuesday, to the Cook County Board of Commissioners. She outlined a budget proposal which reduces the budget by nearly 4 percent, makes long-term investments to address the structural deficit and continues to roll back the Stroger sales tax, a promise that Preckwinkle made before taking office in December 2010.

The $2.9 billion budget is the product of months of collaboration. The FY2012 Executive Budget Recommendation is a comprehensive approach to increasing the fiscal responsibility of Cook County; incorporating key structural changes at all levels of government, targeted revenue enhancements that close loopholes and are aimed at improving collection, as well as other governmental reforms and innovations that save taxpayers money such as managed competition, energy savings and strategic sourcing.

“I am confident that this is a fair budget that rests on a framework of long-term financial management and strategic structural changes across county government,” said Preckwinkle. “This framework will allow us to make long-term investments in the County —keeping our commitment to rolling back the 2008 sales tax increase and investing in a 3-year plan to rebuild our suburban infrastructure. Less than 1 percent of the budget solutions are one-time fixes, instead we made strategic structural changes. This is the most fiscally sound and forward-thinking budget the County has seen in a generation.”

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2012 Budget President's Office