Toni presents budget, defends need for pop tax

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle presented her budget proposal to commissioners Thursday and defended her fiscal record amid an effort to repeal a controversial tax on sweetened beverages.

A public hearing on dumping that penny- an- ounce tax is next week, but Preckwinkle, who acted as “advocate- in- chief ” for the tax and county residents, told commissioners a vote to repeal isn’t just about losing revenue; it is, she said, a compromise of “our constitutional duty” to keep the county on solid financial footing.

“In front of us are two diverging paths,” Preckwinkle said. “One, the path of my budget recommendation, includes revenue we authorized last year. The other, an alternative path, takes us in a vastly different direction.”

That new direction would put the county on a course with fewer public health and safety workers — since a majority of the budget goes to those sectors. Without the revenue the soda tax brings in, “meeting our fiscal obligations could mean cutting programs or services we know are in the best interest of people in Cook County,” she said.

Preckwinkle said that the repeal could mean that advances made in public health and safety could be wiped away.

People from the Can the Tax Coalition, or those generally in support of the effort to roll back the tax, disputed that, citing their declining sales as proof that their businesses were going backward and, if the tax wasn’t repealed, they would disappear.

Those opposing a rollback said the tax is needed to help people make smarter, healthier choices.

Chief Financial Officer Ammar Rizki said as of last week the county has gotten around $ 16 million in revenue from the tax in its first month, though receipts are still trickling in.