Results tagged “cookcountyhealthsystem”

Cook County Board President and local punchline Todd "The Toddler" Stroger is taking a page out of Mayor Daley's political playbook: holding the line on taxes. In a speech to county commissioners this week, Stroger touted his proposed $3 billion budget as maintaining the same level of service without raising taxes. "The executive budget I place before you is balanced, no delays of payment cycles, no long term borrowing to fund operations, no use of reserve funds to pay our bills. Likewise my budget plan for 2010 includes no new taxes, none," Stroger said. "Today, as our national and state governments face terrible deficits, and as many local governments in Illinois find themselves in dire financial shape, Cook County is relatively strong," he said. The proposed budget will actually increase spending by about $80 million, nearly four percent. Those costs include covering previously unmet obligations to employee pension funds, an increase of $35 million to the county sheriff's office, and $22 million in employ pay increases.

• The Reader's resident investigative badasses, Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky, do it again, explaining to us the city's shadow budget.
• The CTA wheels and deals on parking lots and vending machines to garner a little cash to close their budget hole.
• The sale of the Old Main Post Office is back on again.