Politics
Preckwinkle’s $9.9B Budget Proposal Funds Violence Intervention, Pauses Guaranteed Income Program
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle appears on “Chicago Tonight” on Nov.9, 2022. (WTTW News)
As Chicago and its school district wrestle with deficits and the possibility of a property tax rate increase, Cook County’s budget for next year is on path to what board President Toni Preckwinkle described as a “good news budget.”
“There are no new taxes, fines or fees in this budget,” Preckwinkle told reporters in a preview of the vision she’ll outline in a Thursday morning speech. “It reflects our choices we made over the last 14 years and strong fiscal management.”
When asked, she declined to comment on Chicago’s fiscal difficulties.
“I am going to stay in my lane,” Preckwinkle said.
Preckwinkle’s $9.9 billion plan — a 6.8% increase from the 2024 budget — calls for investments in opioid addiction remediation, community violence intervention, firming up how generative artificial intelligence can be used, adding employees at the assessor’s office to help with property valuations and adding solar panels to county properties. Next year will bring a temporary hiatus of the county’s pandemic-era guaranteed income program.
The county budget is just taking shape. It covers a robust health care system — as well as Cook County’s jail and the state’s attorney’s and public defender’s operations that serve approximately 5 million residents in Chicago and the suburbs.
County agencies will testify at hearings throughout the next two months, and commissioners will get a chance to put their stamp on the spending plan Nov. 7, with a final vote scheduled for Nov. 21.
But with only one Republican on the county board and Preckwinkle’s political prowess — she also serves as head of the powerful Cook County Democratic Party — it’s likely the bulk of her priorities will manifest.
Preckwinkle said even though it’s not part of the 2025 budget, she plans to bring back “Cook County Promise” as she waits for guaranteed income to be implemented on a national basis.
“We did commit that we would continue this program, but we want that commitment to be informed by the evidence,” Preckwinkle said.
The two-year pilot since December 2022 has given $500 a month, no questions asked, to 3,250 low- to moderate-income families.
Preckwinkle said the final payments will be going out this month through January, based on when participants enrolled.
Then the program will take a break, pending an independent review.
Results of a University of Chicago evaluation will be made public next summer, according to deputy policy chief Rachel Ruttenberg, but preliminary findings are in keeping with the project’s aims.
“Folks spend the money on basic needs and are able to meet their needs in a way that allows them to do things beyond try to meet their basic needs,” Ruttenberg said. “As we’re looking at those results, we’ll be strategizing what the size and scope and nature of that guaranteed income program is moving forward.”
The guaranteed income program is the one program initially funded with American Rescue Plan Act federal dollars that Preckwinkle guaranteed will remain once the ARPA money runs dry, something the office’s fiscal hawks said they’re preparing for, even if it’s not an issue in 2025, with at this point about 40% of the grant money gone.
ARPA rules require all dollars must be obligated by the end of this calendar year, then spent before 2027.
Chief fiscal officer Tanya Anthony said the county will obligate the remaining $167 million in ARPA funding by the end of the year.
“Are we going to lose any?” Anthony said. “No, we’re not. We’re going to have everything spent by the end of 2026.”
The county’s 40% ARPA spenddown is on par with Cook County’s peers, Anthony said.
What could be perceived as a slow spend is intentional, according to Preckwinkle.
Preckwinkle said the county’s “strong” position meant the ARPA money could be used for programs, rather than for operational expenses, and Cook County spent “more than a year” deciding how it could best be used.
“We surveyed our constituents, we had town hall meetings with commissioners,” the board president said. “So before we spent a dollar, we spent a year planning about how to intelligently spend this money to have the most impact.”
The county likewise plans to be intentional about which programs it may continue in the future, Anthony indicated, by surveying residents about their priorities.
Anthony said health and wellness, economic development and public safety programs scored high in an initial round of 1,300 survey responses, but there will be more opportunities for feedback.
“We’ll be able to inform everyone what programs will be sustained probably next year, early next year,” Anthony said.
“We’re really proud of the fiscal condition the county is in,” Anthony said. “We have strong credit ratings, we have healthy reserves, we have stabilized our pensions and we’re doing all of this without the need to raise taxes.”
Earlier county budget projections estimated a $218 million gap, but officials with Preckwinkle’s office said revised forecasts, including a lower-than-expected personal property replacement tax but higher sales tax receipts, coupled with fund transfers and a reduction in spending on employee health benefits, help to close it.
Under Preckwinkle’s proposal, no county employees will be laid off, but Cook County will keep 56 jobs unfilled, adding to some 3,640 vacancies mostly in the county’s health care and public safety operations.
Anthony said the budget’s “good shape” comes despite expenses and personnel costs outpacing revenues due to staying disciplined and “living within our means,” including keeping reserves on hand.
“We need to continue our commitment to funding our pension, which has been looked upon favorably by the rating agencies for three credit rating increases in the last three years,” Anthony said. “These are the foundations of our fiscal year ’25 budget.”
The budget calls for making a $568.3 million pension payment.
The county will have $100 million in its disaster fund, with half that balance carrying over from disaster funding untapped this year given a drastic decrease in migrants arriving in the area after President Joe Biden implemented quotas at the southern border.
Health care — including the County Care Medicaid program for low-income residents, as well as operations like Stroger and Provident hospitals — accounts for more than half of the county’s budget.
Cook County Health is without a permanent CEO, with Dr. Erik Mikaitis serving on an interim basis for nearly a year, since last November.
Preckwinkle said Wednesday she expects the Cook County Health Board of Directors will choose someone by month’s end.
Contact Amanda Vinicky: @AmandaVinicky | [email protected]
