Cook County, Illinois, names new CFO

Cook County, Illinois, named Tanya Anthony to fill the chief financial officer position left vacant by Ammar Rizki’s departure earlier this year to manage finances at the Obama Foundation.  

Anthony is moving to the Bureau of Finance after serving as chief administrative officer for the last three years. Zahra Ali will take over as CAO of the Bureau of Administration.

The appointments take effect Jan. 1. Confirmation by the board of commissioners is expected in January.

“Their experience, dedication and professionalism make them the ideal choice to lead the Bureaus of Administration and Finance,” County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said in a statement.

The county conducted a national search for a new CFO after Rizki announced in the spring his intention to leave in June to work for the foundation managing construction of Obama’s presidential library and museum in Chicago.

Anthony’s “credentials and experience stood out among the pool of highly qualified candidates,” a county statement said. Anthony will be responsible for setting financial strategy that addresses the long-term fiscal health of the county and will lead county borrowing.

Anthony has held budget and administration roles at both the county and Chicago. Before taking on the role of CAO, Anthony wasCook County’s budget director from 2015 to 2020 working on five budgets in which she worked to close a collective $790 million in budget gaps and established standards to address pension liabilities.

Before joining the county in 2015, Anthony was the budget director and chief administrative officer for the Chicago Park District. She previously held financial positions within the city’s Office of Budget and Management, the Chicago Fire Department and Cook County Department of Corrections.

Anthony began her career serving in the U.S. Army.

County Comptroller Lawrence Wilson, who was interim CFO during the search, returns to his position. Ali joined the county in 2002 with roles in budget and revenue and currently is the deputy chief administrative officer.

Anthony takes over financial stewardship of a county that has trimmed budget gaps, reversed negative credit actions, and raised pension funding although rising costs pose future strains.

The county board last month approved an $8.8 billion fiscal 2023 budget that relies on rising sales taxes, a healthy fund balance, and federal COVID-19 pandemic relief to stay on fiscal track while funding social initiatives and ongoing supplemental pension contributions.

With a fund balance that exceeds the county’s target of two months coverage of general and transportation fund expenses, the budget draws down some of the balance in 2023. The county opened fiscal 2022 on Dec. 1, 2021, with a balance of $703.6 million and expects a $233.4 million increase before closing the books.

The county will tap $231.8 million directing it to other accounts and will use another $30 million to establish the new infrastructure fund; $44.3 million will go to a self-insurance fund and $29.3 million to an equity fund to finance various social programs.

The county stays on track in fiscal 2023 with its supplemental pension contributions. The 2023 excess contribution of $291.7 million supplements a $200 million required payment under the current statutory formula, bringing to $2.34 billion the extra funding sent to the pension fund over the last six years since the sales tax was raised to save the fund from insolvency.

The pension fund’s estimated funded ratio recognizing supplemental funding increased to 70.7% and is on a track to 100% ratio in 2043.

S&P said in a Dec. 5 report that the budget will likely be effective in maintaining structural balance throughout the year, but pension funding challenges loom.

“Pension contributions, along with debt service, account for 38% of the county’s governmental fund budget, which we believe limits financial flexibility,” S&P said in a special report on the budget passage. “Management’s ability to continue funding the increasing pension liabilities, particularly in a challenging operating environment, is a long-term credit consideration.”

About $1 billion in federal COVID-19 pandemic relief allowed the county to help make up past revenue losses as well as invest in various programs.

The finance team said it’s watching closely how revenues perform with some like hotel taxes still in COVID-19 pandemic recovery mode and some economically sensitive to a recession like sales taxes.

Reversing a trend of negative actions, Fitch Ratings lifted the county’s GO rating to AA-minus from A-plus last year, assigning a stable outlook, and S&P Global Ratings returned the county’s outlook to stable from negative and affirmed the A-plus GO rating.

Moody’s Investors Service rates the county A2 and previously revised its outlook to positive from stable.

The county has $2.6 billion of general obligation debt and $570 million of sales tax bonds. The county’s August sales tax issue carried the AA-minus rating of S&P Global Ratings and a AAA from Kroll Bond Rating Agency.