Illinois.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners passed a $2 billion all funds fiscal 1994 budget last week after 15 hours of deliberation.

The budget for the fiscal year that begins tomorrow reflects a compromise between commissioners who wanted to use surplus revenues to abate property taxes and the county administration that wanted to beef up the yearend balance and lessen the county's reliance on short-term borrowing.

Woods Bowman, the county's chief financial officer, said the $200 million of surplus revenues anticipated from the current year budget will be used to do all three things.

Bowman said commissioners agreed to a $58 million property tax abatement this year and another one in 1994. In addition, $79 million of the surplus funds will be used to free up working cash that in turn will be used to pay off outstanding tax anticipation notes in April instead of rolling over the debt for another year, he said.

As for yearend 1994, Bowman said the county board budgeted a $36 million balance, about half of what the administration proposed. However, he said that appropriated but unspent county agency funds should become available by the end of the next fiscal year to bring the balance up to $72 million.

The county's operating budget for fiscal 1994 is $1.4 billion. The county, which is involved in a four-year $958 million bond-financed capital improvement program, has a general obligation rating of Al by Moody's Investors Service and A-plus by Standard & Poor's Corp. and Fitch Investors Service.

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