Chicago, IL – Cook County Commissioner Sean M. Morrison has submitted an amendment today to close the $22.5 million budget gap faced by Cook County in its FY2016 budget.  The proposed amendment will allow for $22,500,000 of discretionary revenue to be allocated to cover the shortfall in the proposed FY2016 Cook County budget.

Commissioner Morrison’s amendment comes in response to four newly proposed taxes which are intended to provide even more taxpayer dollars to the county beyond the recent 1% sales tax increase. The four newly proposed taxes are: Hotel Tax, Ticket Resellers/Brokers Tax, E-Cigarette & E-Vapor Tax, and a Firearm Ammunition Tax.

“I’m unequivocally opposed to all four taxes. My amendment would fund nearly one quarter of a billion dollars in an additional payment to the county pension fund and we would not have to burden the citizens and businesses of Cook County with more taxes which would be in addition to the unpopular sales tax increase passed just four months ago,” stated Morrison.

Commissioner Morrison has submitted his proposal to amend Item #15-6279 (before the Finance Committee tomorrow Friday, November 13th) which is the proposed Intergovernmental Agreement (“IGA”) with the Cook County Pension Fund for FY2016 that would authorize the county’s Chief Financial Officer to disburse $248,026,000 instead of a suggested $270,526,000 in additional discretionary funds to the pension fund. This additional payment would be on top of Cook County’s Actual/Statutory Contribution of $195M.

The discretionary revenue allocated in the proposed IGA will come from the $310 million projected to be generated and collected from the 1% sales tax increase passed in July.  “It’s imperative that we operate within the budget and revenue we have and that’s why I believe it makes good fiscal sense to utilize $22.5 million of discretionary funds to close the budget hole instead of adding four more taxes onto the county rolls,” concluded Morrison.

CHICAGO – Cook County (Illinois Review) – like the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois – has a budget problem. The governments are spending more than they’re taking in. Instead of focusing on where to cut, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is focused on finding places where she can pull in more revenue.

She’s placed a recommendation for a new tax of one penny per round of rimfire, and five cents per round for centerfire cartridges. Commissioner Richard Boykin (1st District) is sponsoring the tax hike.

The proposed ammo tax is in addition to tax hikes on hotels, e-cigarettes and event ticket brokers, reportedly to close the a $22.5 million shortage in Illinois’ largest county’s 2016 $4.5 billion budget.

At least one Cook County Commissioner is adamantly opposed to the proposed tax.

Sean Morrison, who represents the 17th Cook County District, told Illinois Review over the weekend, “No, I am not for this tax, nor any tax!”

“And to be clear, I will not be voting in support  of this,” Morrison said. “In fact, I have and will be actively attempting to convince  my commissioner colleagues that this is a bad idea on so many levels.”
Morrison, who recently was appointed to succeed retiring commissioner Liz Gorman, said he intends to submit an amendment of his own for consideration.

It will be an amendment that will allow the county to close the $22,500,000.00 budget shortfall and balance the 2016 budget, Morrison said.

Morrison says his proposal would allow the county to move forward and make an extremely significant ‘additional payment’ of $438 million to pay down the pension fund shortage over the next four to five years by using the revenue generated by the Cook County sales tax increase.

“If the board will commit to making similar payments over the next four to five years, we can have the massive pension shortfall corrected. Combined with additional operating efficiencies we are currently putting in place will eventually allow us to use those revenue funds for other areas, but only and after we bring the pension arrears back into the black,” Morrison said.

“That, in my opinion, is a responsible fiscal budget plan.”

The Republican from southwestern Palos Park will face a stiff uphill battle to convince the Democrat-controlled board to consider his plan. He said it will take pressure from organizations and taxpayers on their county board commissioners to stay the tax hikes and consider his budget ideas.