Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s proposed $4 billion spending plan for Cook County government contains no higher taxes, fees or fines for 2015. But she warned the news won’t be so good in 2016. Preckwinkle will explain how, even with less debt today than when she took office in 2010, the county faces a $75 million increase in payments for money the county previously borrowed in 2016.

"Over the past four years, Cook County has adopted policies and implemented programs to streamline services provided to residents and reduce costs. Used as a baseline to plan for the FY15 budget, a preliminary forecast prepared in June 2014 identified a $168.9 million gap between revenues and expenditures; a 65% reduction from the 2011 budget deficit identified when President Preckwinkle first took office. This represents a substantial improvement towards a stable long-term realignment of resources and spending."

Preliminary Budget Gaps | Create Infographics

"Cook County’s total FY 2015 budget is $3.99 billion, an increase from $3.56 billion in FY 2014. This increase is driven by expenditures in the Public Safety Fund ($35.0 million), Corporate Fund ($19.2 million), a greater portion of the levy to cover debt service costs ($37.6 million), Grants ($58.7 million) and the Health Enterprise Fund ($409.7 million). Expenditure reductions in Capital Improvements (-$76.5 million), the Elections Fund (-$20.2 million), and Special Purpose Funds (-$1 million) partially offset these increases."

--Cook County Executive Recommendation FY 2015 Volume I

To balance Cook County’s $3.99 billion budget, the FY 2015 recommendation does not include any new taxes, fees, or fines, but rather relies on more thorough enforcement on revenue sources, such as taxes on alcoholic beverages. The charts below detail proposed sources of revenue, and the proposed allocation (expenditure) of said revenues.

View the pie graphs detailing revenues and expenditures for FY 2015. Click on the graphs to learn more about revenues and expenditures.

File Attachments:

Volume I-Budget Overview.pdf

Volume II-Budget Overview.pdf

Volume III-Budget Overview.pdf