Commit to Cook
Growing Our Economy
Toni Preckwinkle
Cook County Board President
behalf of Cook County, I want to welcome you to the 2013
Chicago Auto Show. This year marks the 105th auto show, making it the
oldest and largest exhibit in the United States.
A major feature this year will be hybrid vehicles. According to the U.S.
Department of Energy you could save about $1,700 in fuel costs each year
by choosing a fuel e cient vehicle. Hybrids come in all varieties and are
sold at dealerships all over Cook County. With the Jan. 1 rollback of the
Cook County sales tax to .75%, taxpayers can save money when purchasing
fuel for hybrid vehicles, while also making a positive environmental impact.
At Cook County we are increasing our employees’ access to fuel-e cient
vehicles for work-related transportation. Since last year, we’ve allowed
employees to reserve a Zipcar from any location for short-term trips.
This month we began our own car sharing program that lets employees’
book Shared Fleet vehicles to conduct County business for longer periods of
time. Employees can reserve vehicles housed in the Loop and at two other
County locations.
We will be able to track how often vehicles are driven, where they are going,
and where we need to move vehicles to meet employees’ needs.
This is just one of the innovative ways Cook County is working to save
taxpayers money and make it a great place to do business. I hope you get a
chance to check out the vast array of high performance, sport-utility, and
hybrid vehicles featured this year and learn about the trends and
innovations in the auto industry.
Best wishes for another successful show.
O
N