By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A candidate for Cook County board president says county spending of $243 million in violation of Illinois’ Safe Roads Amendment is another example of the current president’s mismanagement.

A circuit court judge ruled last week that the spending of transportation-related tax revenues outside of transportation infrastructure and related operations was unconstitutional.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s office expressed disappointment in the ruling.

“However, the circuit court acknowledged the complexity of these novel issues, recognizing that ‘the county’s efforts to comply with the amendment are not unreasonable, given the relative lack of clarity of the amendment’s application to the County budget,’” a spokesperson for Preckwinkle’s office said in a statement to The Center Square.

The spokesperson said the county would “undertake efforts” to ensure compliance.

Chicago Alderman Brendan Reilly is running against Preckwinkle in the Democratic primary election for county board president March 17.

Reilly suggested that Preckwinkle’s office got bad advice from consultants to spend the money on public safety.

“I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be funding public safety, in fact we should be doing more, but to be basically raiding road funds to do that is irresponsible and just another example of Toni Preckwinkle’s mismanagement,” Reilly told TCS.

Reilly said there are many examples of financial mismanagement in Cook County government. The alderman cited the county’s failure to get property tax bills out on time and said school districts and municipalities would be waiting months to get revenues they need for operations.

“They had to go out and take payday loan-style gap loans to keep the lights on,” Reilly said.

Reilly said scandals have plagued Cook County’s land bank.

“I would argue it’s the county president’s job to go to Springfield and blow up this land bank and reconstitute it with Illinois statutes,” Reilly said.

Reilly said the county controls about 1,000 parcels that could be used to spur economic development.

“That’s one other area where we’re seeing incredible waste. In this particular instance there were incidents of fraud and misconduct in the mismanagement of the land bank, which of course falls under President Preckwinkle’s purview,” Reilly said.

Preckwinkle’s spokesperson said no one in the county board president’s office was available for an interview.

Early voting for the March 17 primary election begins Feb. 12 in Chicago and Feb. 18 at select locations in suburban Cook County.