CHICAGO – Despite five million dollars being spent by New York City former Mayor Bloomberg to preserve the soda tax, Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison said Friday there's enough agreement among Republicans and Democrats on the county board to repeal the county's unpopular penny per ounce tax on sweetened beverages.
"After numerous negotiations over the last 48 hours, an agreement has been reached with 11 of my fellow commissioners to sign onto the Sweetened Beverage Tax Repeal Ordinance which will be called for a vote in the Finance Committee on Tuesday, October 10," a statement from Morrison's office says.
"This morning, I submitted a substitute amendment to my original repeal ordinance that calls for the elimination of the Cook County Sweetened Beverage Tax effective December 1, 2017 which is the beginning of Cook County’s fiscal year," Morrison said.
Joining onto Morrison's substitute amendment as co-sponsors are Commissioners Richard Boykin, John A. Fritchey, Timothy O. Schneider, Jeffrey R. Tobolski, Peter N. Silvestri, Bridget Gainer, Gregg Goslin, John P. Daley, Jesus G. Garcia, Stanley Moore and Dennis Deer.
“I would like to thank my colleagues for working together so diligently to come to an agreement on such an important issue to our constituents and to Cook County. It has not been easy task but in the end, we have reached an agreement that will address the concerns of our residents and businesses and set forth a goal to chart a new fiscal course for Cook County,” said Commissioner Morrison.
The agreement reached on the substitute amendment will allow for Cook County government to close out the final seven weeks of its fiscal year with the tax in place. This will then provide a clean slate for the Cook County Board to begin its 2018 Cook County Budget Process in the coming weeks.
“I’m committed to working in a bipartisan and constructive manner with all of my board colleagues, President Preckwinkle and her administration to take the needed steps to find the fiscal solutions to create and balanced and responsible 2018 Budget for Cook County,” Morrison said.
One of several pro-soda tax ads being run in Cook County that Bloomberg has paid for:
