Volunteers at Spring Creek Forest Preserve
By A.D. Quig | Chicago Tribune
Flush with money after voters authorized a fresh property tax hike, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle pitched next year’s Forest Preserves budget Tuesday as the start of “a new era.”
“For the first time in a long time, it is not the budget of an agency in a holding pattern, keeping long-term, pressing needs at bay,” Preckwinkle said Tuesday. “For fiscal year 2024, we are moving forward, and there is only more on the horizon for the residents and visitors of Cook County.”
Three years ago, Preckwinkle pitched a pandemic austerity budget that tapped into the forest preserves’ rainy day fund. Then-Commissioner Larry Suffredin highlighted the district’s “precarious” financial state and warned officials may have to sell off land owned by the forest preserve district to stay afloat
In the summer of 2021, Preckwinkle and the district board — whose members are the same as the Cook County Board — paved the way for county voters to say “yes” or “no” to a property tax hike that would raise money to help maintain the 70,000 acres of green lands, trails and water.
Last November, after a concerted campaign by preserves boosters, voters overwhelmingly authorized a 0.025% increase in the preserves’ property tax levy, raising an additional $40 million that officials said they would be spent on maintenance at facilities such as the Chicago Botanic Garden and Brookfield Zoo, land restoration and pension payments.
The 2024 budget is the second year with extra funding in place. This year’s budget was amended after voters approved the referendum. On Tuesday, Preckwinkle proposed an $188.7 million budget for the district in 2024, an increase of 34% from this year’s pre-referendum proposal.
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