Cook county's current County Board president is
Todd Stroger. The county has by far more Democratic Party members
than any other Illinois county, and is one of the most Democratic
counties in the United States. It has voted only once for a Republican
candidate in a Presidential election in the last forty years, when
county voters preferred Richard Nixon to George McGovern in 1972.
The Circuit Court of Cook County, which files more than 1.2 million
cases every year[3], the Cook County Department of Corrections,
which is the largest single-site jail in the nation, and the Cook
County Juvenile Detention Center, the first juvenile center in the
nation and one of the largest in the nation, are solely the responsibility
of Cook County government. The Cook County Law Library is the second
largest county law library in the nation.
The Bureau of Health Services administers the county's public health
services and is the second largest public health system in the nation.
Three hospitals are part of this system: John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital
of Cook County, Provident Hospital, and Oak Forest Hospital of Cook
County, along with over 30 hospitals.
The Cook County Highway Department is responsible for the design
and maintenance of roadways in the county. These thoroughfares are
mostly composed of major and minor arterials, with a few local roads.
Although the Highway Department was instrumental in designing many
of the expressways in the county, today they are under the jurisdiction
of the state.
The Forest Preserve District, organized in 1915, is a separate,
independent taxing body, but the Cook County Board of Commissioners
also acts as the Forest Preserve District Board of Commissioners.
The District is a belt of 69,000 acres (275 km²) of forest
reservations surrounding the City of Chicago. The Brookfield Zoo
(managed by the Chicago Zoological Society) and the Chicago Botanic
Garden (managed by the Chicago Horticultural Society) are located
in the forest preserves.
In the 1980s, Cook County was ground zero to an extensive FBI investigation
named Operation Greylord. Ninety-two officials were indicted, including
17 judges, 48 lawyers, 8 policemen, 10 deputy sheriffs, 8 court
officials, and 1 state legislator. Cook County is the fifth largest
employer in Chicago.[4]
In March 2008, the Cook County Board increased sales tax one percent,
increasing the county sales tax rate from 0.75% to 1.75%. This followed
a recent quarter-cent increase in mass transit taxing coming into
effect in April. In Chicago, the rate increased to 10.25 percent,
the steepest of any major metropolitan area in America[5]. In Evanston,
sales tax reached 10 percent and Oak Lawn residents will pay 9.5
percent.[6] On July 22, 2008, the Cook County board voted against
Cook County Commissioner's proposal to repeal the tax increase.
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