Cook County government expects its projected budget gap to nearly double next year due to pay hikes for its roughly 19,000 employees.
In June, county leaders said they expected to start the 2024 budget year with an $86 million gap — one of the smallest financial holes in the last decade. But now that gap is expected to swell to about $170 million, county Chief Financial Officer Tanya Anthony revealed during a budget hearing Tuesday.
Officials say they do not expect to increase taxes or fees or add new ones, however, explaining that surplus money and other belt-tightening is expected to cover the gap.
About 60 unions represent county government workers. So far, the county has reached pay hike agreements with 33 unions representing about 10,000 employees, and has approved raises for another 3,500 nonunion workers, a county spokesman said.
The county is negotiating with another 30 unions that cover about 5,000 employees. But officials said they figured the expected costs of those remaining contract negotiations into the revised deficit figure.
During the budget hearing, Anthony said the salary increases provided more budget certainty and recognized “the important work of labor partners.”
“We didn’t have the hard figures on costs and didn’t want to include any guesses on prospective personnel expenses in our preliminary forecast” in June, Anthony said.
Employees are set to receive a retroactive 3.5% raise dating back to December 2021 and a 5% pay hike mid-year in 2025.
The pay hikes can be used to recruit and retain employees, Anthony said.
The county has been struggling with a persistent workforce shortage. That shortage, which came on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, isn’t unique, but officials see maintaining adequate staffing levels as key to carrying out the county’s priorities in spending $1 billion in pandemic relief dollars.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s initiatives include launching a guaranteed income program and erasing up to $1 billion in medical debt. In June, Preckwinkle said hiring more employees was among her biggest challenges.
The County Board is hosting hearings this week to learn how various agency and department leaders are doing financially about halfway through the current budget year and where they might be headed next year.
Cook County commissioners oversee the county jail, courts and the large hospital and clinic system called Cook County Health. The county has a nearly $9 billion budget.
Commissioners typically approve next year’s proposed budget in late fall. The new fiscal year begins Dec. 1.
Kristen Schorsch covers public health and Cook County for WBEZ.
