FY2020 Preliminary Forecast
General Fund FY2020 Preliminary Forecast
The FY2020 outlook includes a projected shortfall of $11.9
million in the General Fund with revenues $4.7 million above the FY2019 adopted
budget and expenses $16.6 million above FY2019.
Revenue Projections
Annual revenue is organized by a number of different buckets that include non-property taxes administered by Cook County, Property Taxes of which the base levy has remained flat since 1996, various fees and licenses as well as miscellaneous revenue.
The preliminary estimate
for General Fund revenues in FY2020 is $1,872.1 million. This represents an
increase of $4.7 million or 0.3 % compared to FY2019 budgeted revenues. This includes a $21.1 million increase in County Sales Tax collections due to
a growing economy and expected decline of $13 million in the Cigarette Tax.
Non-property taxes are expected to modestly increase driven by growth in
County Sales Tax revenue due to a robust economy and an estimated increase in Gambling
Machine Tax revenue ($3.3 million) from recently passed state legislation expanding casino
gambling.
The preliminary estimate for Miscellaneous Revenues for FY2020
is $32.7 million. It includes $6.6 million in estimated revenue from new
Cannabis and Sports Betting Taxes recently approved by the Illinois General
Assembly. These two new tax sources will be categorized as Non-Property Taxes
upon final approval.
Additional information is available by clicking on page two
of the chart below.
General Fund Expenditures by Functional Area
FY2020 General Fund expenditures are projected to increase by $16.6 million over the FY2019 appropriation. The accompanying chart provides expenditure data by functional area, such as the County's economic development efforts.
This increase is driven by an
overall increase of 3% in personnel expenditures ($38.2 million) due to Board approved
wage increases. FY2020 represents the last year of the current collective bargaining
agreements. This agreement includes a 2%
mid-year Cost of Living Allowance in FY2020, but freezes step increases to
maintain wage growth at inflationary levels. Another key component of
the personnel-related expense increase is rising employee health benefit costs
($11.7 million) which are expected to rise at a rate above
medical inflation.
Additional information is available by clicking on page two
of the chart below, including a drop-down menu that allows for a further level
of detail.
General Fund Expenditures by Type
The accompanying chart provides expenditure data by by personnel and non-personnel expenditure type. Personnel includes salary and benefits. Non-personnel includes contractual services, operations, maintenance, supplies and other contingency expenses.
We Want to Hear from You
What are your ideas for improving county services? What are your ideas for making county government more efficient? How can we improve the budget process for next year? For more information and to share your ideas, visit our website: http://www.cookcountyil.gov/budget or email: budget.questions@cookcountyil.gov