To make up for revenue lost after thesoda tax was repealed last year, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle proposed hundreds of employee layoffs.

Withever-dwindling county population, the question of how the county digs itself out of the red lingers.

On March 20, voters will choose between incumbent Cook County PresidentToni Preckwinkle, who is running for her third term, and former 2nd Ward Ald.Bob Fioretti, who ran for Chicago mayor in 2015.

There are no Republican candidates running for this office.

More:2018 Primary Election: Candidate Forums on ‘Chicago Tonight’

Preckwinkle has faced criticism for her support of Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios after reporting from theChicago TribuneandProPublica Illinoisrevealed an error-ridden tax assessment system that unfairly burdenslow-income homeowners in predominantly minority areas.

Fioretti is a vocal critic of Mayor Rahm Emanuel – his home was left out of the 2nd Ward’s remapping in 2012 – and he’s been equally critical of his Preckwinkle’s ill-fated soda tax and reinstatement of a 1-percent sales tax that she campaigned on repealing in 2010. But Fioretti has offered few specifics for generating much-needed county cash.

Both candidates join us in discussion.

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