Steve Balich Editors Note: More people are now damaged or dead from the cure for coronavirus than the virus itself. We have a serious destruction economy starting with small business and ending with increased suicide. Mental Illness, Anxiety, Robery, Suicide, Domestic Abuse, Loneliness, Helplessness, Anger, and loss of everything a person owns is happening before our eyes. THE SHUTDOWN IS BURINING THE LIVES OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
We need to open everything back up before it is too late.
Please Email and call your State Senator and State Reps. Email and Call your U.S. Congressman and Senators
The Will County Finance Department projects that the novel coronavirus pandemic could cost county government between $9 million and
$26 million in revenue this year.
Karen Hennessy, the county’s finance director, spoke to the Will County Board Finance Committee during a virtual meeting Tuesday. She told board members the economic downturn caused by the pandemic will have a “substantial impact” on sales tax revenue the county receives from the state government.
Hennessy said she looked at the effects of the last recession in 2009 to give her an idea of how revenues will be impacted. She said she also used data from a University of Illinois study and from the state’s projections of the effects on its own budget.
Still, she said the 2009 numbers might be the most useful for the county. Using that data, Hennessy said Will County could lose about $21 million in revenue in 2020.
“That’s the one we’re most comfortable with because it’s based on actual activity,” she said.
Hennessy said that if nothing was done to make up for the loss in revenue, the county government would still have money left in reserve. But she added that it would not be enough to meet its yearly cash reserve target of about 25% of its annual budget.
For fiscal 2020, the county’s budget was about $624 million.
County officials noted that they won’t know for sure what the loss in revenue will be until later this summer when they have numbers for March and April.
Additionally, any money the county gets through the federal CARES Act can only be used to offset additional expenses going directly toward combating the spread of the virus. The money cannot be used to make up for losses in revenue, Hennessy said.
Still, Minority Leader Mike Fricilone, R-Homer Glen, said he’s optimistic about the revenue projections, because he thinks when the state begins to lift social distancing measures, economic activity will pick up. He also criticized Gov. JB Pritzker for his extended shelter-in-place order, saying it put a “stranglehold” on the state.
“There’s a lot of pent-up demand,” Fricilone said.
Will County Board Speaker Denise Winfrey, D-Joliet, said departments will have to do some “tightening of the belt” to save money. But, she said that cutting personnel might be difficult because the county already is “operating at a minimum” number of employees. She said she wants to work with labor unions on solutions.
“At this point, what we want is to keep as many people employed as possible,” Winfrey said.
