The capital budget is used to address the critical infrastructure needs of the County from road improvements to technology and the construction of new facilities. Exhaustive criteria is used to identify which capital projects the County will invest in each year and such projects are predominately funded through sources outside of the operating budget like debt issued by the County.

It is the County's fiscal policy to provice a balanced budget each year. Expenditures are County costs ranging from payroll to paperclips. Like a balanced checkbook, the total expenditures match the total revenue collected in a fiscal year.

Cook County receives revenue from multiple sources like property taxes, fines, fees and even the auctioning of surplus equipment. The total amount of money collected each year is what is used to cover the costs of County services.

This dataset contains information on estimated proposed salaries by position for all Cook County employees excluding the Forest Preserves of Cook County. Salaries are budgeted based on the fiscal year which is the 12 month period that begins on December 1 and ends on November 30 of the succeeding year. The Budgeted Salary does not include fringe benefits such as Medical Insurance, Dental Insurance, etc. The Budgeted Salary and position title may change throughout the fiscal year; any such changes will not be updated in this dataset.

It may be helpful to know the Job Code contained in the dataset is a unique 4-digit number assigned to each specific Job Title while the Position ID is a unique 8-digit number that identifies a position. This helps create consistency and accuracy in the dataset over time, in case of a name change or other change.

Cook County voluntarily provides this dataset as a service to the public. Cook County makes no warranty, representation, or guaranty as to the content, accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of any of the data provided at this website. Cook County shall assume no liability for: 1. any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the data provided at this website regardless how caused; or, 2. any decision made or action taken or not taken by anyone using or relying upon data provided at this website. Cook County assumes no liability for any virus or other damage to any computer that might occur during or as a result of accessing this website or the data provided herein.