CHICAGO - Facing a Feb. 29 deadline to pass a fiscal 2008 budget, the Cook County, Ill., board last week paved the way for a series of tax increases to avoid double-digit budget cuts that commissioners said would devastate the county.
President Todd Stroger warned of dire across-the-board cuts needed to eliminate a projected $240 million deficit. Stroger's $3.2 billion budget was balanced largely with tax increases, including a controversial measure to raise the county's sales tax by 2 percentage points, pushing Chicago's sales tax to 11% - including city, county, state taxes - and making it among the highest in the nation.
Unable last year to gather enough support for the sales tax increase, Stroger last week was poised to offer a compromise budget that included cuts and a somewhat smaller sales tax increase. While such a plan was not unveiled, the board focused its attention on possible cuts.
Finance committee chairman John Daley in late January had ordered all department heads to devise ways to cut 13% from their 2008 budget. Describing the cuts as "disastrous," "mind-boggling," and "devastating," department heads on Friday presented the committee with grim scenarios.
The chief of the fiscally troubled bureau of health said he would be forced to close two of its three hospitals, all its neighborhood clinics, and an HIV-treatment center. Cook's fiscally troubled health system - which will likely be taken over by an independent board of directors within the year - makes up a third of the county's total budget, with an $850 million budget that last year suffered from a $70 million shortfall.
"We looked at every possible angle and there's simply nowhere else to cut without cutting services," health chief Robert Simon told the board.
Responding to the doomsday scenarios, many commissioners indicated they would rather raise taxes than implement the cuts.
"We have a reputation in the country as being one of the leading counties, and now we're losing that," said Commissioner Joan Murphy. "It's affecting our bonding and our ratings. Everyone is losing confidence in us."
Commissioners this week will begin considering of a wide swath of tax increases, including Stroger's proposals to double the gasoline tax to 12 cents from six cents on the dollar and double the county's daily, weekly, and monthly parking tax rates.
Commissioner Roberto Maldonado estimates the county could generate $126 million a year through a package of tax increases he introduced last month, which include a 1% hotel tax, a 1.5% tax on alcohol consumer and taverns and restaurants, and several other increases. The board will likely also enact a new vehicle tax that would require all county residents to purchase a $40 sticker to display on windshields. q
