November 08, 2018
Click here to read the full report.
Civic Federation supports the Forest Preserve District of Cook County’s full proposed FY2019 Executive Budget Recommendation of $204.8 million as a reasonable one-year plan.
As detailed in the report, the District has worked to control costs in recent years by eliminating personnel positions and outsourcing non-critical activities. The District has additionally focused on increasing earned revenue, such as fees and permits. However, the District finds itself in a challenging fiscal position with significant future revenue shortfalls.
Recognizing that the Forest Preserve District is out of easy options, the Civic Federation offers some recommendations for measures that may be seen as controversial but could cut costs while preserving the core mission of land preservation, such as reducing its administrative office space by operating out of a single administrative office and restructuring its police force to focus primarily on land protection.