(Chicago Tribune) — Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinklelauded several county officials Wednesday for buying in to her plan to slash spending, even as a trio of her colleagues weren’t totally sold on the idea. The new head of county government is asking for 16 percent budget cuts, but it remains unclear whether the state’s attorney, sheriff […]
(Chicago Tribune) — Thousands of Cook County employees will have to take online ethics training each year under an executive order issued Monday by County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. That will be a change from the past, when only about 500 elected officials, their staff and executive employees were required to take one-time ethics training, Preckwinkle […]
(Chicago Tribune) — Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkleon Monday put the brakes on a host of “nonessential” projects and services in a move she estimated could save tens of millions of dollars during the current budget year. The moratorium will last until the board in late February approves a 2011 budget, Preckwinkle said. Between now and […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle released a plan Tuesday for her first term in office that could jettison the controversial Forest Preserve police to cut costs and generate revenues by raising or expanding court and other fees. The 26-page report prepared for Preckwinkle by her transition team focuses on putting […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Vowing it’s “a new day in Cook County,” newly minted Board President Toni Preckwinkle wielded a big ax Monday, sending dozens of staffers tied to her predecessor packing and setting a deadline of 2013 to cut an unpopular county sales tax hike. And that was just her first day on the […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Today, Toni Preckwinkle takes over as Cook County Board president — the first woman elected to the post — after she and the 17 county commissioners are sworn in. Preckwinkle, the 4th Ward Chicago alderman whose resignation is effective today, has said she’ll clean house to rid the administration of outgoing president […]
(Chicago Tribune) — Cook County Board President-elect Toni Preckwinkle on Thursday warned top county officials that they will need to make major spending cuts next year to help the county close a vast budget gap. The estimated revenue shortfall tops $480 million because of the partial rollback of the controversial county sales-tax increase, the anticipated costs […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — She is seeking the help of the very people she may fire. But Cook County Board President-elect Toni Preckwinkle said she needs the help of outgoing board President Todd Stroger’s administration as she prepares to take the reins of the $3 billion government next month. So she emailed and faxed letters […]
(Chicago Tribune) — Toni Preckwinkle took a moment Tuesday night to savor her win in the Cook County Board president’s race before beginning the difficult task of digging the county out of its ugly financial situation. “We’ll start putting together a team that will begin mapping out some of the changes that need to be made,” […]
(New York Times) — It is a longstanding practice for Cook County’s Democratic Party heavyweights to dismiss would-be reformers as weaklings and phonies. But this year provides a twist: While the party leadership has embraced Toni Preckwinkle, who is campaigning as a reformer for president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, some activists and commentators […]
(Chicago Sun Times) — Cook County’s next chief executive, to be decided in the Nov. 2 election, won’t take office until December, but already the three candidates are navigating the political and financial minefield that will greet them on Day 1: shoring up a budget with a projected deficit as high as $400 million. Democratic […]
(Chicago Tribune) — Democratic Cook County Board president candidate Toni Preckwinkle said Wednesday that she wouldn’t eliminate the rest of a controversial county sales tax increase until 2012 at the earliest. That’s because budget experts told her next year’s shortfall could reach $500 million due to a poor economy, elimination of federal stimulus cash and the […]