Taxes and Fiscal Responsibility	Issue Pages: TIFs Preserving Cook County Hospital Health Care Taxes and Fiscal Responsibility Environment Equal Rights Women's Issues

Commitment
Mike Quigley has consistently acted to bring cost accountability to Cook County. He authored and sponsored an ordinance which caps the County's outside attorney's fees. And he also opposed the use of funds for a new traffic court and instead offered a proposal to more efficiently manage the current facilities. As chair of the Industrial Claims Committee, Commissioner Quigley significantly reduced injury compensation costs to the County over the course of his first term in office.

The Commissioner has a long history of consistently opposing tax increases. He voted against the Forest Preserve tax levy increase in 2002 and was the only Democrat to vote against the County Parking Tax in 2000. During the 2004 budget process, Commissioner Quigley blocked a proposed lease tax and an increase in the sales tax. In 2005, Commissioner Quigley successfully led the fight to prevent steep meal and lodging tax hikes from taking effect.

Innovation
Commissioner Quigley is committed to being a fiscal watchdog for the county. He not only questions county expenditures and no-bid contracts, but he researches alternative revenue sources and cost-cutting measures for the County.

Commissioner Quigley has issued five separate reports on cost cutting measures and revenue enhancement ideas for County agencies. To save taxpayer dollars the Commissioner has called for common sense out-sourcing and joint purchasing with other government agencies.

In relation to Forest Preserve District finances, he has issued three reports on creative fiscal strategies. His suggestions include land acquisition through intergovernmental agreements, the use of sponsorships and advertising to fund recreational activities, increased volunteer programs, and an increased sharing of resources between Cook County and the Cook County Forest Preserve District.

Ethics
Commissioner Quigley successfully sponsored a series of amendments to the County Ethics Code that allows the Board of Ethics to initiate investigations into potential ethics violations and to penalize ethics violators by levying fines against them. The new amendments also require ethics training for upper level county staffers.