Cook County Commissioners - Board and Committee Meetings
July 27, 29 and 30, 2020

Key items passed by the Board:

• “Justice for Black Lives” Resolution.  The substitute non-binding resolution calls on monies for policing and incarceration to be redirected to public services, not administered by law enforcement, which will promote community health and public safety, particularly in Black and Brown communities most impacted by violence and incarceration.  Such services to include housing, health care, mental health, restorative justice, job creation, public transport, eviction/foreclosure, and increasing opportunities for Minority-owned and Women-owned business enterprises.  Passed with 15 votes; Commissioner Aguilar voted present and Commissioner Sean Morrison voted no, both expressing concern with the idea that the resolution calls for defunding the police.  Commissioners voting in favor say that this lays out priorities for reducing crime and promoting opportunities through these other means.  The upcoming 2021 budget (which will be considered in October and November) will offer the first opportunity for the Commissioners to start to carry out the resolution. (Agenda Item 20-2867)
• Resolution to utilize $82 million of money County received under the CARES Act to aid economic recovery from COVID-19.  (Agenda Item 20-3229)  See the Observer Report for the Special Board Meeting on July 16 for details of the distribution.

Other Items of Interest Discussed in Committees:
Finance Committee:

• County’s Use of CARES Act funds:  CFO Ammar Rizki reported that the $429 million has been allocated for (1) County’s operational costs (46%), (2) County’s direct costs incurred  (23%), (3) spurs for economic development across the County (19%, the Resolution described above), and (4) $51 M for eligible costs incurred by suburban municipalities (12%, as described in the Observer Report for the July 16 Special Board Meeting).  New guidance comes out regularly from the U.S. Treasury as to how these monies can be spent.  Mr. Rizki said that with $300 M in lost revenues to the County, it is critical that now County can use the CARES money to cover some salary and benefit costs.  However, Mr. Rizki said that CARES Act money can only be used to cover hazard pay for those employees directly dealing with COVID positive people (health care workers and correctional officers in the Jail).  So hazard pay provided to other people will not be covered, based on current information.  Mr. Rizki stressed that with many people predicting a spike in COVID cases in the fall, the County needs to conserve some of these funds to cover future costs.
• To date, 439 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.
• So far, no monies have been allocated to township governments, which have other options.
• Mr. Rizki receives a weekly report of which municipalities have requested monies under the $51 M allocation by the County and will share with the Commissioners so they can make sure municipalities in their districts are applying for that money.
• Cook County Health has received $59 million of CARES Act funding in May in addition to the above as a health care provider. 

Audit Committee:

• Clean audits received for both the County as a whole and Cook County Health (“CCH”) for fiscal year 2019.  County has a Fund Balance that would cover 2 months of expenses, which is considered what is necessary.  (Agenda Items 20-2685, 2687)
• Auditor stated that CCH’s receivables tend to be risky, but thinks there are sufficient reserves to cover delinquencies.  Liabilities include $477 M of claims to County Care for outside (“foreign”) providers, $236M which are identified and the rest based on management estimates of what claims will be submitted after the fiscal year for care provided during the fiscal year.  Comm. Miller asked for breakdown of these “foreign” claims so they will know where people are going for care outside of CCH’s facilities.  Comm. Morrison wants to know dollar amount not collected due to mistakes; this goes beyond scope of this audit.  Andrea Gibson, CCH interim chief business officer, will be setting up meetings with the Commissioners.  She said that CCH is now catching out-of-network people and so not providing service under County Care.  Also, CCH is making sure getting pre-authorizations required by other insurers.
• Clean audit for Clerk of the Circuit Court, except that fees not disbursed in timely manner as required under Illinois Clerks of the Courts Act. (Agenda Item 20-2653)

Legislation & Intergovernmental Relations Committee:

• Review of the Final Recommended Plan for consolidating the Recorder of Deeds functions into the Office of the County Clerk.  Estimated cost savings during 2021 is $1.1 M, and annual savings thereafter over next 3 years estimated at $6 M.  Expect reductions in positions down to 79 for recorder’s work due to streamlining and broadening of work done by an employee.  Savings also due to moving Clerk’s Vital Records area from Daley Center pedway to Recorder’s office on main floor and moving Clerk’s offices on 14th floor of 69 W. Washington to Recorder’s administrative offices in County building. (Agenda Item 20-2745)  Next review by Commissioners of this consolidation will be in the proposed budget submitted in October.

Items to watch for at next Committee meetings, likely during the week of Sept. 21:

• Agenda Item 20-3562: Proposed “Residential Tenant & Landlord Ordinance,” which was referred to the Finance Committee.  Co-sponsor Britton said that this is modeled on the Chicago and Evanston ordinances.  Would spell out tenant and landlord rights and obligations.
• Agenda Item 20-3482:  Proposed resolution requesting hearings every month of the Criminal Justice Committee with the Sheriff and senior staff to discuss the operation of the Jail and Police Department (responsible for unincorporated areas plus some suburban towns under inter-government agreements).  Referred to Criminal Justice Committee.
• Agenda Item 20-3435:  Proposed resolution supporting the Illinois NAACP State Conference and Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police Ten Shared Principles.  Referred to Law Enforcement Committee.
• Commissioners Deer and Moore each submitted separate proposals to add Juneteenth as a County holiday, which were withdrawn.  The Commissioners said they would work to add this holiday without putting an added expense to the budget.

Note:  The Cook County Board and most of the Board Committees are not scheduled to meet again until week of Sept. 21, though Commissioner Suffredin wanted the public to know that everyone is still working and Commissioners continue meeting virtually in small groups (so as not to violate the Open Meetings Act) each Sunday with key County personnel.

Observer - Priscilla Mims

Cook County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee
Mid-Year Budget Hearings - July 28, 2020

State’s Attorney 

​General Information
Revenues - Revenue was $238,000; that is down $178,667 which is a 42.3% variance.  
Expenses - Actual expenses were $59,343,256 which is variance of 4.3% ($2.7 Million)
Holdback Target - Holdback target achieved 

Other information of interest:

• State’s Attorney’s Office (SAO) fees consist entirely of certain fees for felony and misdemeanor convictions in the Circuit Court and imposed by judges.  Revenue has historically begun to decrease. The trend points to a continued decline; court closures due to Covid19 has exacerbated the decline.
• Most hiring for attorneys occurs after the July bar exam so vacancies are carried in the first half of a fiscal year which represent the variance. Prior to mandated FY2020 appropriation reduction due to Covid19, the office rescinded 43 attorney offers that were tentatively planned to occur between Aug-Sept., and negotiated 75 delayed hiring of vacant positions to meet target reductions due to Covid19. Less expenditure payment requests associated with case activity, supplies, operations and delayed maintenance has resulted in decreased expenses until normal operations resume.
• The SAO Case Management System is in the review stage; expectation is that the proposal will come before the Board in FY2020.
• Holdback target was met by delayed hiring on open positions, non-personnel reductions, and estimated savings from furloughs. 
• SAO piloted Paperless Digital First project during the office closures; Its success has resulted in rolling out the approach to the entire criminal and special protection bureaus so that information can move throughout the supply and information chain without paper and those underlying costs.

Observer - Carolyn Cosentino

Cook County Board of Commissioners' Finance Committee
        Midyear Budget Hearings - July 22, 2020 

Public Defender
General information available from report online:

• Actual operating expenses as of 5/31/2020 $36,254 530. This was a 2% variance.  FY2020 YTD Budget was $37, 254,530.
• Holdback target of $5,094, 821 was not yet met.  Amount achieved was $3, 020,947 which were line items.  $2 million in COVID-19 related expenses are expected to be reimbursed through CARES Act.  Office currently has 35-40 vacancies holding off on hiring until year end unless critical. 43 attorney office hires were rescinded for Aug-Sept.  Hiring has been impacted by COVID-19 related issues.

Other information of interest

• Closure of cases has been impacted by court closures for 2 1/2 months and has impacted fee collection.  Revenue began to decrease in FY 2019.  No corrective action at this time; dependent on return to normal conditions.
• Case Management Evaluation system will be proposed for Board approval in 2020.
• Preliminary forecast for 2021 is that the office would not be able to meet budget targets. A $9 million reduction for FY 2021 would  result in a reduction of over 100 employees.  Anticipating both backlog of cases due to COVD-19 and uptick in violence this summer, the results would be a high volume of cases of all types. In addition to lawyers, outreach workers, social workers, and paralegals are needed. 
• Reduction in funding would eliminate resources to defend clients; assigning clients fo private attorneys would be more costly, perhaps as much as $6 million. Over-burden of case can likely lead to lawsuits.
• Implementation of Mental Health Resource Unit is in progress.  Currently one psychologist has been hired and been reviewing cases since and establishing relationships with community organizations and stakeholders.  31 referrals have been accepted by this one staff member.
• Police Station Representation Unit (PSRU) continues to build awareness through outreach and networking with community partners. The goal for FY 2020 was to double police station visits to over 2,000 to maximize calls for counsel to represent people in custody.  Due to the impact of COVID however, calls and virtual visits have declined and the goal will not be met.  18% of those provided counsel at the station house were not charged with any offense, demonstrating the effectiveness of the unit.
• Plans to provide improved service to clients, including  those in its conflict division and non-citizens who are best served by lawyers specializing in immigration law were presented. Implementation is dependent on having the necessary resources as demands on this office increase. 

Observer - Carolyn Cosentino

CLERK OF THE COURT - Dorothy Brown
REVENUES 2020YTD (May 31, 2020)  are down.  
Budgeted:  $37,650,000  Actual:  $31,333,244  Variance: -$6,316,756   or -16.8%
EXPENSES 2020YTD (May 31, 2020) are down.
Budgeted:  $49,276,430  Actual:  $47.575.410  Variance:  $1,701,020  or 3.5%
Holdback:  $6,513,443 (achieved)
2021 Budgeted:  Not in report, nor on Legistar

Other Information from presentation:

• Criminal Case management system (through $37,000,000 contract with Tyler Technologies) is “working well”—Odyssey Program.  Civil and Traffic Management is still being programmed.  Not clear on which technology programs were up and running and which were still being worked on or not yet started.
• Almost all court procedures are being done virtually or by email, mobile app, website.
• Brown needed to pay “Hazard Pay” to get employees to come to work at court houses during COVID.  $1.9 million.  This will not be reimbursed by federal CARES money.  Some other Court expenses will be reimbursed, but Brown needs to apply for these funds.
• 1400 employees total.  30 were/are COVID positive.  Computers were purchased and borrowed for employees to take home to work from home.  85% of the total employees are back to work—many “are afraid and call out”  (call in sick), even though plexiglass barriers and PPE has been purchased/used.
• regarding Shakman:  Daley asked Brown for a road map toward compliance.  Brown said her team is working on it.
• Expungement program is a big and popular program and several commissioners commented on it and thanked Brown.  This removes the criminal records of certain individuals.  This can be done virtually and will be done again August 1-September 25.
• ​Has 207 open positions and has delayed hiring, which helped with the holdback. But hiring will begin again as it has been previously approved.

CHIEF JUDGE - Tim Evans
REVENUES:  YTD (May 31, 2020)  State of Illinois Salary Subsidies and Public Guardian Fees:  
Budgeted: $29,152,899 and $1,600,000, respectively. 
Actual:  $24,876,994 and $1,047,774  
Variance:  -$4,275,905  -14.7% and -$552,226   -34.5%
EXPENSES:  2020 Budget YTD:  $129,818,323  Actual:  $120,923,415
Variance:  $8,894,908   7%
Holdback:  $17,213,803  Achieved:  $14,643,203

Other Information from Presentation: 

• Court has been open to all except for civil and criminal jury trials.  All court proceedings  are being done by Zoom—virtually.
• Collections have fallen to 23%of target from March through May due to COVID.
• Three new Restorative Justice Courts are being set up:  Avondale (August 10), Englewood (August 3) and another which I didn't catch.  A fourth one will be at 26th and California (Leighton Courthouse) for all of Cook County.  These courts are designed to stop the revenge shootings that have occurred so often.
• All courts are open but almost all employees are working from home and are not in the courthouses and offices.  Evans is thinking about remote jury selection process once this starts again.  This would alleviate the large numbers of people coming to courthouses for jury selection process.  Also mentioned was using large venues like McCormick Place for jury trials to facilitate social distancing.
• The State Supreme Court as put a “toll” on speedy trials, since this is impossible to do now.
• Comm. Suffredin mentioned that because landlords, banks, credit card companies, etc. will be filing next week, there will be a fee spike which is good for revenue.
• The Charitable Bond Fund, passed by this CC Board, has bailed out 800 people for $2.8 million.

Observer - Karin Hribar

Cook County Board Of Commissioners’ Finance Committee
       Midyear Budget Hearings - July 21, 2020

Cook County Health - Debra Cary
Revenues as of May 31, 2020: General information from report available on Legistar 

• Medicaid Expansion up 21% from $798 million budgeted to $965 million actual            
• Patient Fee Revenue down 21% from $332 budgeted to $262 actual

Expenses: 

• $1,665 billion actual versus $1,303 billion budget = 28% higher 

Holdback Target:  Reported as N/A 

Highlights of Presentation and Discussion::

• As of 7-21, $154 million Cares Act monies have been received plus another $40 million for COVID-19 contact tracing.
• 70 positions were eliminated and another 200 agency positions identified to bring in house as a cost savings.
• Charity and unpaid care continues at 42% to date but expected to rise.
• Commission Daley stressed that the System has to reverse the large percentage of County Care MCO patients using other providers.
• System is expanding use of Telehealth but it is not considered to be an expense saver.
• Stand alone, ambulatory dialysis services at Provident to open in late 2020.
• Patient numbers are slowly rising at the hospitals and community centers as accommodations are made for social distancing.
• Cary said System needs to be prepared for COVID-19 resurgence and continued extra services at the Jail.
• Artificial intelligence being used to reduce claims rejection by ensuring pre-approval is received.  This new approach is operational for radiology and underway for oncology.  Next 2-3 months will provide more information on success.
• It is expected that the County will use tax dollars in the amount of $82 million to help offset Jail and Public Health Expenses and will pick up another $30 million In pension costs.
• Commission Sean Morrison asked for value of denials and billing errors for years 2018-19.  Also wants capital funding expectations from Cook County CFO.
• Projecting a $187 million deficit for 2021 due to personnel, overtime, and pharmacy costs.
• The new Medicare enrollment plan, More Care, is expected to help increase Medicare revenues by $7.4 million.
• Provident Hospital rebuild on hold until new CEO in place.
• CCH Board President expects CEO search to produce 1-2 finalists in the next few weeks.

Independent Inspector General -– Patrick Blanchard
Revenues – N/A
Expenses - $1,043 million YTD budgeted vs $882,545 actual.  Down 15.3%
Holdback Target:   $120,824.  met.
FY 2021 Budget Target:    $1,726,849

Information of Interest

• Did not hire 2 investigators as part of his hold back target and another new hire will start in August.
• Provides services to Cook County, Forest Preserve, and the MWRD.  Exceptions: States Attorney, Chief Justice, and Clerk of the Court
• Used Micro-Soft Teams to good advantage and will incorporate in future operations.  May save on space.
• Noted that since its inception the IG office has consistently had its staff reduced from a high of 20 to the current number of 14 including 2 MWRD investigators.  Blanchard is now doing the complaint triage work previously handled by his deputy who left and has not been replaced.
• Complaints are up about 25% from 2019.  Projecting 800 for 2020 [includes MWRD].
• With the projected cuts in the 2021 budget, Blanchard does not expect his office can be prepared to provide the coverage needed.
• Produces 60 OIG summary reports a year and receives 350 inquires/complaints.
• The OIG has one full-time harassment investigator who is busy but not “crushed” with work.

Public Administrator -– Louis Apostol
Revenues – Up $539,328 or 82.9%.  YTD Budget $650,000 vs YTD Actual $1,189,328
Expenses -  Down $7,129 or 1.07%.  YTD Budget $666,922 vs YTD Actual $658,922
Holdback -   No.
Fiscal 2021 Budget Target:   $1,259,749.    2020 Budget is $1,344,605

Information of Interest

• In explanation of the holdback:  “The office will have generated over $2,865,112 in fees, interest, court costs, and funds for unknown heirs.  Our 2020 budget is $1,344,605.  At the close of Q3 2020, the fees alone will have generated $1,169,933 to the county treasurer.  This office estimates a year-end total of $1,827,331 in revenue which represents $527,331 over the expense amount appropriated for FY 2020.”
• The office assists the public in administering probate estates when a CC resident passes away without family to manage the liquidation and distribution of his/her assets.  It also aids the public and the Medical Examiner’s Office in location of family for unclaimed remains and homes that would otherwise be abandoned.
• The office has a staff of 15 plus the Public Administrator who is a 1099 employee.

Secretary to the Board of Commissioners - Matthew DeLeon       
Revenues:  N/A
Expenses:  Down $90,636 or 10%.   YTD Budget is $932,617 vs YTD Actual of $84,981
Holdback:   $112,707.  Met.
Fiscal 2021 Budget Target:  $1,745,747

Information of Interest​

• A new Manager of Archives has been hired, and the Secretary intends to bring an Ordinance governing the archives in the fall.
• January 2021 is the 190th Birthday of the County for which the board has instituted a flag design contest for the students of the county.  The contest deadline has been extended to September 2020, and the semi-finalists will be picked in October.  The presentation of the flag is projected for spring/summer 2021.
• The Secretary stated that the Board is not likely to be coming back to the conference room any time soon.
• Sims reminded the Board and the Secretary that the current board room needs to be made ADA accessible.  
• Secretary hopes to significantly expand the conference room in addition to making it ADA accessible when resources are available.

Cook County Sheriff - Tom Dart
Revenue: $6,797,999
Expenses:$284,937,121
Holdback:$25,413,144
Target Holdback;$38,884,424

Sheriff Dart appeared early and ran late at the Midyear Budget Hearings. Some Commissioners called it “extra innings” and other baseball analogies. But the Sheriff had much to say and the Commissioners had many questions. His session ran approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes. Although there was some repetition, the Sheriff and the Commissioners are very concerned as his department might be facing $90 million in cuts from his current $600 million budget.

Some Highlights from the Sheriff’s Remarks:

•  The Sheriff began his remarks by stating he was perfectly “on budget’ until March when Covid hit.
• In March, due to Covid, he had to hire new people  (he said about 200) to open up , clean and staff long closed divisions in order to spread out the population. He also tests each detainee upon entry and quarantines them for 2 weeks. All of this has increased his need for personnel costs, including overtime.
• He also has 1000 more people on Electronic Monitoring (EM) as judges are trying to not put more people in the jail.  His jail population is about 4900, and his EM population is about 3300, both are up from
• He also has about 500 Illinois Dept. of Corrections’ inmates who have been sentenced, but are not being placed in prisons, due to Covid. On the positive side he has freed up some sheriff’s deputies who have not been serving evictions. But as the courts reopen, these deputies may go back to those duties.
• The Sheriff also talked at length about the other duties he has taken on recently. He named 3 South Suburbs that his police have been working with in a supplemental capacity (Dolton, Harvey, and Riverdale). He has also been supplementing the CPD on the West and South sides of Chicago during the protests.
• In addition he runs many mental health programs, mentoring programs for youth, job training programs, and opioid addiction treatment programs both in and out of the jail. He has trained his officers in crisis intervention and in the use of naloxone treatments, he said. For these reasons he will be having trouble cutting his budget.

Some Highlights from the Commissioners’ Questions and Comments:

• Many Commissioners congratulated him and asked detailed questions about testing, distancing and tracing. He said that as of July 20 he had only 16 cases that were positive, 10 of which came in that way. All detainees are tested upon entry and isolated for 2 weeks, no matter what the test results may be.
• Commissioner Suffredin asked for a list of all of the programs that sheriff’s deputies are involved with and the costs of each. The Sheriff said he would get that information.
• Commissioner Anaya asked about how the Sheriff planned to cut $90 million from his budget. He mentioned 3 ways: 

1. He hoped to cut staff through attrition. But he warned the board not to be too generous in the next          union contract talks since he is not part of those negotiations.
2. Branch courts could be closed (like Bridgeview and Rolling Meadows). He would then need to staff less officers in the court houses.
3. He could cut all transportation from the jail to the outlying courts for simple hearings that take 1 or 2 minutes. These could be done remotely. He would save the transportation costs for trials, plea bargaining, sentencing, etc.

• Commissioner Johnson asked about administrative costs. The Sheriff said a full review took place a few years ago in order to cut these. It was unclear if more could be cut. The Commissioner also asked for a list of school related programs that the deputies are involved with and their costs, such as those at Proviso and Richards high schools.

Observers - Diane Edmundson and Jan Goldberg 

Cook County Board of Commissioners - July 20,2020 ​ 
Mid-Year Budget Hearings

BUREAU OF FINANCE/BUDGET OVERVIEW
Presented by CFO Ammar Rizki and Budget Director Annette Guzman
The General Fund
General Information from the report available on Legistar:
The General Fund was originally projected to end FY2020 with a $219.7M deficit 

• Revenues down$297 million or 15% below the adopted budget
• Expenses also down by $77.5 million or 4% below the adopted budget

However, with corrective actions already being taken, this projected deficit has been reduced to $100.7 M.  Additional corrective actions are being explored.
The outlook for FY2021 includes a General Fund deficit projected at $222 million

• Revenues down $129 million or 7% below FY2020 adopted budget
• Expenses up $92.9M or 5% above FY2020 adopted budget

Health Enterprise Fund
General information from report available on Legistar
The Health Fund was originally projected to end FY2020 with a $61M deficit

• Revenues up $322 million or 11% above the adopted budget
• Expenses up $383 million or 14% above the adopted budget

However, with corrective actions taken (including eliminating 70 positions), the remaining deficit to deal with is $26 M.
The outlook for FY2021 includes a Health Fund deficit of projected at $187 Million

• Revenues of $405 million or 14% above the FY2020 adopted budget
• Expenses of $592 million or 21% above the 2020 adopted budget

OFFICES UNDER THE PRESIDENT
Presented by Lanetta Hayes Turner, Chief of Staff
General Information from report available on Legista:r

• Revenues in 2020 down by 43,463,342.2 (7%) what was budgeted from this office May 2020.
• Expenses in 2020 up by $4,577,223 (7%) 
• Holdback Target of $9,848,904 
• Amount of Holdback Achieved $10,692,975 
• FY2021 Budget Target $143,164,820

Other information: Lessons Learned during COVID:

• Government can function remotely
• COVID-19 has shown the inequities in Cook County that need to be addressed, particularly gun violence
• Sustainable reforms with Criminal Justice system 

No raised question about the budget or reports on Legistar from Commissioners.

COUNTY CLERK, Karen Yarbrough
General information from report available on Legistar:

• Revenue: (County Clerk Fees) down by $334,010 (9%) from what was budgeted as of May 31,2020
• Expenses: Lower by $347,688 (6%)
• 2020 Holdback Target $830,746
• Amount of Holdback Achieved: $545,762
• FY 2021 Corporate Budget Target Revenues $47,918,5000.00
• FY 2021 Corporate Budget Target Expenditures $18,217,841.00

Other information:
Cook county Clerk Karen Yarbrough talked about the accomplishment of the County Clerk’s office during the COVID-19 pandemic. Questions concerning the November Election were asked. Deputy Clerk Edmund Michalowski was there to answer questions concerning:

• Vote by Mail 
• Security of the election
• Sanitizing Polling places

There were no questions asked from Commissioners concerning the Budget or report on Legistar.

OFFICE OF THE RECORDER OF DEEDS  -  Edward Moody
General information from report available on Legistar:

• Revenues: up $1,018,515 (5%)
• Expenditures: down $590,380 (16%)
• Holdback Target: $467,762
• Amount of Holdback Achieved $467,762
• They met their target.

Other information:

• There were no questions asked of the Recorder of Deeds. 
• There was some discussion of the merger of the offices of the Recorder of Deeds and the County Clerk.
• Yarbrough stated that the merger will happen on schedule

TREASURER - Maria Pappas 
General information from report available on Legistar:

• Revenues up by $2.7 million over what budgeted thru May 31.  Collected additional tax sale penalties as a result of the postponement of the Annual Tax Sale due to COVID-19.
• Expenses lower by $56,513.
• Holdback Target of $54,789 met.n

Other information of interest:

• Treasurer required all employees to keep a daily time sheet identifying what they did at home while office shut.  Used this information to determine that 6 employees were not needed, and 12 seasonal employees were laid off. That leaves 60 employees in office, with 24 open positions.  Says not sure at this time how many of these positions may be needed going forward.  Suggested it would be interesting if all County offices required such time sheets.
• Continued increase of people using web site to gain information; noted that web site can be viewed in many different languages. Said that have had 500,000 web site visits this month.
• “Black Houses Matter” program:  effort to remove properties in African American areas from delinquent tax list by doing reach-outs via media outlets (e.g., radio shows) and other means.  By far, the largest number of properties on the list are in African-American areas (Chicago and suburbs):  28,659 out of 40,568 properties for a total of $81.4 million of the $122 million outstanding.  Many of the individual properties, however, have a fairly small delinquency.
• As show above under Revenues, there are significant benefits to the County for delaying the Annual Tax Sale.  In addition, such sales result in other areas of the County becoming involved:  courts, sheriff, state’s attorney, etc.  And the delay provides the people more time to pay delinquencies, so they are helped.
• While there will be no penalties imposed on those who do not pay their tax bills on time this year until Oct. 1, the Treasurer’s office has reached out to the escrow agents (mortgage holders) to make sure they will be paying on time (by Aug. 3) since they have the money from their mortgagees.  Treasurer is confident that this being done and so the County, and all the local governments listed on the tax bills, will have good cash flow, despite the delay in applying penalties for late payments.

ASSESSOR - Fritz Kaegi 
General information from report available on Legistar:

• Revenues down by $13,939 from what budget from this office thru May 31. 
• Expenses lower by $1,610,730.
• Holdback Target of $1,745,832 met.

Other information of interest:

• This year the south suburbs reassessed.  Started sending out reassessments in January and February, and then halted due to COVID.  Used office shut-down to redo assessments to reflect effects of COVID on property values.  This is reflected in assessment that began going out again in May.  But says, whether or not appeal, the assessments sent out in January and February will be redone after closing of appeals process.
• Investments made in technology, hiring key people and training within office, and the legislative change that eliminated the need for seniors to file each year for the senior exemption were critical to the office to being able to continue working effectively during the office shut-down.  
• Last year the reassessments for the northern suburbs shifted the overall assessed value from 50-50 to 60-40 (commercial vs. residential), but after adjustments made by the Board of Review, the values were shifted back toward residential.  Assessor working on a report that will show actual shift back.  
• Last year and so far this year, the number of appeals the Assessor is handling is slightly down.  Assessor noted that this is a major change from past years when the number of appeals were continuing to go up significantly.
• In 2021, reassessment will be of Chicago properties.  This represents 52% of the properties in Cook County!

BOARD OF REVIEW - Michael Cabonargi,Dan Patlak, & Larry Rogers, Jr.
General information from report available on Legistar:

• Revenues down by $343,667 from what budget from this office thru May 31, but most of the revenues from this data subscription fee come at the end of the appeals process so Board of Review expects most of this will be made up.
• Expenses lower by $436,306, but most of the expenses are incurred in the 3rd and 4th quarters of the fiscal year (June through November).
• Holdback Target of $875,014, but so far only $301,179 met.  Have delayed hiring for 5 or 6 open positions, and expect to continue to delay hiring, so that will help meet more of the Holdback Target. 

Other information of interest:

• Said they processed 253,000 appeals (a record) on time so tax bills could go out on time this July.  Key was the online appeals process which enabled work to be done at home by employees.
• Report states that the 2021 budget target will not allow the Board of Review to complete the appeals process on time next year.
• Was not asked about the adjustments the Board of Review made to the reassessments of the northern suburbs. (See the item of interest under the Assessor.)

Nancy Marcus and Priscilla Mims -  Observers