CHICAGO — The president of Cook County, Ill., fired the county’s comptroller Wednesday, fallout from a $90 million accounting error that inflated the general fund and partly prompted a Moody’s Investors Service’s downgrade.
Board President Toni Preckwinkle fired Constance Kravitz, who had been hired as controller in September 2009 by Todd Stroger, the former county president.
Kravitz oversaw a fiscal 2009 audit that counted twice $24 million of cigarette tax revenues and $66 million of sales tax revenue. The $90 million mistake was discovered later by Preckwinkle’s office and disclosed in mid-June.
Moody’s cited the error a few weeks later when it cut the county to Aa3 from Aa2, saying it was likely to aggravate the county’s already-pressured fiscal position.
Revised figures put the 2009 general fund balance at $97 million, down from the originally reported $187 million. The mistake overstated general fund revenues by more than 7%. Fitch Ratings also cited the error two weeks ago when it cut the county to AA-minus from AA with a negative outlook, warning that the mistake compounded the negative general fund operating trend.
More recently, board commissioners criticized Kravitz at a meeting for what they said was incorrect data in a report detailing the hot-button issue of furlough days needed to balance the current-year budget. Commissioners voted to withdraw the report and Preckwinkle told Kravitz to produce a revised report by Wednesday, the day she was fired.
Preckwinkle is expected to unveil a proposed 2012 budget in the next two weeks. The county’s fiscal year begins Dec. 1.
