Cook County commissioners approve $8.8B budget for 2023

COOK COUNTY, Ill. (WLS) -- The Cook County Board of Commissioners has approved a balanced $8.8 billion budget for 2023.

The budget passed overwhelmingly 16-0, which followed a month of departmental hearings, commissioner questions and public meetings, officials said.
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The budget includes:

$42 million for a guaranteed income pilot to administer $500 dollars per month for two years to 3,250 households in Cook County.

$12 million of federal funds to potentially negotiate the purchase of hundreds of millions of dollars in medical debt for Cook County residents and cancel it.

$111 million investment in behavioral health which was identified as one of the top priorities by Cook County residents.

$71 million investment in small businesses, which will provide more than 7,000 businesses with $10,000 grants in a range of business support areas.

$20 million in the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago for the Stormwater Management Program.

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$20 million project to improve infrastructure and provide critical capital upgrades to municipalities across Cook County.

$14.1 million in federal funding to expand the County's homeless response system for Cook County Health patients.

$10 million initiative for the Neighborhood Revitalization Brownfield Remediation program to assess and remediate contaminated brownfield sites in suburban Cook County.

Through its Equity Fund, the County will also invest over $70 million this year and next to create safe, healthy and thriving communities in Cook County. Initiatives supported by the Equity Fund aim to reimagine and transform systems around justice, public safety, health, housing, economic opportunity, community development and social services.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's office said the budget does not include tax increases or service cuts.

Preckwinkle also noted that the county was able to close an $18.2 million budget gap, the lowest gap in her tenure as President, without the need for raising new taxes. In addition, the Cook County Board recently voted to eliminate the Wheel Tax.