Cook County and City of Chicago Announce $11 Million in Identified Savings for 2011 Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Mayor Rahm Emanuel today highlighted the successful first three months of city-county collaboration, and announced that the task force has identified $11 million in savings. “This committee is focused on finding areas of collaboration,” said President Preckwinkle.

Join the new Cook County Bureau of Economic Development and our partners on Saturday, October 15 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. as we launch our Community Garden Network at the Harvest Festival, being held at Tommie Brown Sports Association, 2805 West 141st Street in Blue Island.

In order to more fully address the needs of unemployed and underemployed residents, Cook County Works has enlisted the help of Bank of America to teach workshops on addressing financial issues that arise during periods of economic stress. Bank of America has trained a corps of 86 volunteers who will be facilitating these workshops in Cook County Works’ One-Stop employment training centers in Cicero, Chicago Heights, Maywood and Oak Forest, Illinois. Topics covered in the workshops will include: saving, budgeting and money management after a financial setback.

In an effort to stop the unlawful practices of two neighboring towns, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle was joined by Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez in announcing that the County has filed a twelve count complaint against the City of Kankakee, the Village of Channahon and three separate Retail Acceptance Brokers to stop a wrongful sales-tax kickback scheme. The suit alleges that Kankakee and Channahon pretends that sales take place where the order is “received,” – often in a virtually empty office – even when the bulk of the transaction takes place somewhere else.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle was joined by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart today to announce their offices’ joint efforts to crack down on business and individuals who want to skirt the Cook County Tobacco Ordinance requiring retailers and individuals to pay the cigarette tax. Since their collaboration was launched earlier this month, the Department of Revenue has increased the number of Investigation officers and has worked in close cooperation with the Sheriff’s office to ensure further compliance by Tobacco product retailers throughout the County.

On Thursday, September 29th, officials from the State of Illinois, Cook County and the City of Chicago announced the award of $54.6 million in federal grant funds from the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) to enhance the safety and security of residents in Chicago and Cook County. The grant, intended to increase preparedness efforts, will be used to undertake essential planning, enhance training, conduct exercises and provide equipment so that first responders across the urban area will have the skills and resources necessary to prepare for, prevent, and respond to incidents across Cook

As part of her ongoing commitment to greater energy efficiency, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced today that by the end of 2011 taxpayers will have saved well over $1 million dollars in electricity savings through the efforts of the ongoing partnership with Cook County Government and ComEd. As a result of “Wattage Wars,” a competition between nine County buildings to reduce energy usage and save taxpayer dollars, Preckwinkle anticipates savings of more than $1 million by the end of the calendar year.

For the first time since 2008, the Cook County Sheriff’s Police will welcomes a class of new officers – with a group entirely made up of existing employees promoted from other sworn ranks. The 25 new officers – which include former court deputies and correctional officers promoted in accordance with rules governed by the Shakman Decree – began physical training on Monday, September 26th.

Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Michael M. Cabonargi will hold property tax seminars in Rogers Park Township on how homeowners can appeal their property assessment and lower their property tax bills. The seminars are shown below: - October 5—50th Ward sponsored by Alderman Debra Silverstein and Commissioner Larry Suffredin (13th District) at Warren Park located at6601 N. Western Avenue at 7 PM - October 6—49th Ward sponsored by Alderman Joe Moore and Commissioner Larry Suffredin (13th District) atWillyeB.WhitePark located at 1610 W.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle launched a new initiative today to identify unregistered businesses that are delinquent in paying taxes to the Cook County Department of Revenue, one step in an effort to reach an overall goal of $10.2 million in delinquent revenue. In accordance with President Preckwinkle’s goals of fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability, the Department of Revenue is increasing efforts to ensure fair and equitable Tax Compliance throughout the County.