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Budget Hearings Reveal Concerns About “Rigged” Elections

10/26/2016

Cook County Board Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings
Day #5 of Budget Hearings - October 21, 2016

Office of County Clerk - presented by David Orr, Cook County Clerk
Proposed Budget: $31 million down from about $34 million
Proposed FTEs: Currently 275 down from 310 4 years ago.
Key Information Presented:

Decrease in personnel was through strategic planning and not layoffs
Ballots requested by mail for this election is 3 times over 2008
Early voting sites have grown from 43 to 52 as there has been a huge increase in early voting
Election day registration will continue for this election
The Clerk’s office is offering a new “Running for office” starter kit
New voting equipment will need to purchased in 2017
In order to improve communication, a new website is planned for 2017

Questions/Comments from Commissioners:

Mainly revolved around the integrity and security of the voting system, hacking of voting lists, and concern about “rigged” elections.
The commissioners were assured that protections against fraud were in place and the Clerk’s office is working with the FBI and Dept of Homeland Security, backed up with a lot of testing and risk assessment. The voting machines have a paper backup for additional security and an audit trail to prevent fraud.
There was some discussion regarding the voting rolls being cleaner than they have been in years and the value of passing the Automatic Voter Registration bill. In the meantime, the voter registration data base is constantly being updated and cleaned up. With 1.5 million voters and an estimate of 10% of folks moving, it is important to keep cleaning records. The key to clean voter lists is people voting from where they live.
The key to safety at the polls is well-trained judges and every step of the process having both parties represented. The arming of judges was downplayed.
David Orr responded positively to the question regarding merging the offices of Recorder of Deeds and Clerk’s Office. He stated that he thinks a minimum of $2 million can be saved by the time the merger happens in 2020. He also stated that he believes there would be no layoffs if strategic planning is used and reassignment of talent occurs during and after retirements.

Chicago Board of Elections
Key Information Presented:

Presenters stated that the electoral franchise is sound.
There has been a last minute rush to register to vote and the expectation is for an additional 100,000 registrants. There is a push to offer early voting in order to decrease long lines.
The most often asked question is where do I vote, and there are problems with people arriving at the wrong voting place.
Expect no net increase in expenses and holding the line on costs through technology.
The need for upgrade on voting equipment was brought up. I did not hear the budget number.

Questions/Comments from Commissioners:

Included protections from “rigged” elections. The response was the voting equipment is solid, the web server is solid, and there is a paper trail.
The biggest problem is list maintenance and having access to death records. The problem is greater when a Cook County resident moves out of Cook County and into another county.
As of Thursday, Oct. 20, there were 20,000 early voters and 55,000 requests to vote by mail.

Commissioners present were Garcia, Suffredin, Morrison, Schneider, and Sims

Bureau of Technology - presented by Simona Rollinson, Director
Presentation lasted 15 minutes and the prepared slides did not work.
Proposed Budget:
FY17 - $31.5M
FY16 - $32.1M
Decrease of about $600,000
Proposed FTEs:
FY17 - 151
FY16 - 150
Increase of 1 FTE
Key Information Presented:

The budget for 2017 is moving away from capital costs to operating costs.
FTEs of 16 will remain almost the same in 2017.
Accomplishment for 2016 was a new service oriented web site.
2017 goals are to target under-utilized software on county computers, and move to just-in-time service.

There were no questions asked by the commissioners.
Commissioners present included Garcia, Morrison, Sims, Schneider, Moody, Tobolski.

Observer - Laura Davis

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Proposed Capital Budget Presented at Cook County Budget Hearings

10/26/2016

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Cook County Board Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings
Fourth Day of Budget Hearings - October 20, 2016

Capital Budget - Presented by CFO Samstein
Key Information Presented:

A new practice at Cook County: Financing of capital projects now has to match the life of the asset! This has been the practice for years in private business, but only recently is it the rule at Cook County. In fact, many IT investments are being pushed to the Operating Budget since the life cycle of so much software is short-lived.
For many years the county had financed now antiquated computer systems with long term debt so that the County will not pay off these systems until 2032 in the worst case. The County has $3.4 Billion in total debt ($500 Million was from bonding for self-insurance, a practice that is likewise not done in business, and the county has stopped doing this as well.) Debt repayment is not included in the Capital Expenditure budget.
Good news: there is a central “bank” responsible now for managing all of Cook County’s diverse assets, including real estate, facilities, and computer systems. The Capital Equipment request for FY2017 is $84 Million, of which $65 Million is for technology catch-up. This includes the integrated property tax system, the continued implementation of the biometric timecard system (which all parts of Cook County government will use except for the Board of Review and the Assessor’s office because they already had a similar system in place). The county provides a central clearing house for even office furniture and security cameras so there is less money spent on redundant systems that exist elsewhere in Cook County facilities.
Other capital expenditures include demolition of certain assets, including Department of Corrections Division 1, 1A, 3, and 17. Security systems and furniture will be recycled to other offices of Cook County.

Questions/Comments from Commissioners:

Commissioner Gainer does not like the expensive NORESCO contract for energy efficiency, to be completed in 2016 at Corporate. She complained it basically paid an outside contractor to swap light bulbs, something that Cook County workers could have done themselves.
Commissioner Schneider asked Director Samstein his opinion of the “lockbox” law that Illinois will be considering. Samstein believes that it will cause lawsuits and many extra non-productive manhours.

The Cook County Building and Zoning Department and Board of Appeals office have the goal of improving blighted properties in unincorporated Cook County so that local municipalities will be more likely to annex those properties after they are improved.

Land Bank Authority

Charged with reducing vacant land and returning buildings back to the tax rolls.
Commissioner Gainer spearheads this effort. Gainer said that the Land Bank is meant to consolidate lands with delinquent taxes, clear up legal issues, then bundle that land and sell it to the highest market bidder who eventually will develop and pay property taxes.
Although commissioners in the more blighted areas of Chicago and South Cook complained about not being informed, Robert Rose, the Director, said that in no instance was the Land Bank competing with the private sector or “stealing” people’s property.
Not one dollar of Cook County money is spent on the Land Bank. It is financed from grant monies and sale of properties.
It is the largest land bank in the country.

Bureau of Asset Management:

Manages 19 million square feet of space in Cook County.
The next year will focus on Old Cook County Hospital re-development. The project will consist of a hotel, retail, business offices, and possibly even a museum for Cook County hospital artefacts. Housing will be built where the current parking garage stands. The developer now has 15 months to secure financing for the project.
The county downsized by one floor in the Cook County building and is renting the space to IDOT. Floor space usage should be decreased by 1 million sq. ft. in the next year.
The Hawthorne building will be vacated and consolidated at Rockwell, likewise the print shop in the Pedway will be moved to Rockwell. Hawthorne will be either sold or demolished depending on market conditions, as there is a lot of deferred maintenance on the building.
Demolitions will occur at the department of Corrections, mentioned above, at Divisions 1, 1A, 3, and 17.
The bureau will also begin the Cook County Central Campus Health Center in the Stroger vicinity.

Facilities Mangagement: presented by Bilqis Jacobs-El, Director

Thanked her employees in attendance.
Since 2015 she has reduced FTEs from 541 to 516 and managed to reduce overtime by 68% from 2012 to 2016.
Received good government awards from NACO (national association of County govenrments) and President Prekwinkle.
Have developed a pre-apprenticeship program at JUVI.
Now have a cloud-based work order system, and have a salvage management clearing house site for office equipment. The Chief Engineers of each facility sit in on energy efficiency planning, and are working on a water savings management plan.
Controls every Cook County facility except Health and Hospitals.
They are no longer under the Shakman decree.

Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership

Have ten workforce centers and supplies Federal grant money to multiple secondary agencies.
Do not provide direct services but offer travel vouchers and oversee distribution of grant monies to the agencies.
Have 65 FTEs and oversee $62 Million, most of it from Federal grants.
Have served 5033 at risk youth at a cost of $70.17 per hour because youth require mentoring.

Overall Observation: It was impressive to see such an abundance of young, talented managers working for Cook County government, with more than half of them young women of color. This is a very different Cook County from ten years ago.

Observer - Amy Little

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Day 3 of Cook County Board Budget Hearings

10/26/2016

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Cook County Board Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings
Third Day of Budget Hearings - October 19, 2016

Meeting reconvened at 9:15am by Chairman Daley with Comm. Gainer, Suffredin, and Garcia in attendance. There were no slide presentations at this meeting. Some departments provided handouts to the Commissioners but those in the audience were not able to access them at the meeting.

Board of Review(BOR) - No Handout
Presented by - BOR Commissioners Michael Cabonargi, Dan Patlak, and Larry Rogers
Proposed Budget:
FY17 - $10,904,092 - (includes $1,703,579 in Fixed Cost Transfer)
FY16 - $8,881,215
Difference - Increase of $2,022,877
Proposed FTE’s:
FY17 - 125
FY16 - 125
No change
Key Information Presented:

In agreement with President’s Proposed Budget
476,000 appeals processed in the past year - the highest number ever for their office
Have implemented a digital appeals processing system which has helped in the timely processing of appeals to ensure that tax bills go out on time. 89% of appeals filed on line.

Questions/Comments From Commissioners:

Asked about implementation of Employee Time And Attendance System - BOR stated they have not implemented for daily time keeping due to erratic work schedule of employees that results in accumulation of comp time. They are using it for leave/vacation time. Comm. Gainer stated that the commissioners want feedback on this system as it is being implemented countywide and they need to know if it will work for everyone.
Comm. Suffredin asked reason for increase in appeals. BOR Comm. Rogers stated that he thought it was due to increase in residential appeals from Chicago residents. Education efforts have focused on making residential property owners aware of the process so they will appeal with the same regularity as commercial properties do, which he said was on an annual basis.
Comm. Suffredin asked about cross training of employees with other departments dealing with taxation process - are there any issues with unions? BOR indicated cross training was to ensure that their employees have work to do on a 12 month schedule not only during “appeals season” - did not indicate that there were any problems with unions for this cross training.
Comm. Gainer and Silvestri asked about having a dedicated staff for a Property Tax Appeals Board (PTAB) operation. BOR stated that last year they saved the county $9m by sending people to defend the county in these appeals. Previously they would just file the necessary paper work and not send anyone to the hearings. BOR indicated that there is about $500m of outstanding liability but that the filings have decreased since the county now sends people to defend the county. Comm. Sylvester indicated that if they need funds to further their efforts they should send a proposal to the board.

County Assessor - Presented by Joseph Berrios, Cook County Assessor
Proposed Budget
FY17 - $30,247,039 - (Includes $4,068,842 in Fixed Cost Transfer)
FY16 - $25,139,269
Difference: Increase of $5,107,770
Proposed FTEs
FY17 - 331
FY16 - 342
Difference - Decrease of 33
Key Information Presented:

Tax Bills went out on time for the 5th straight year
The Erroneous Exemption Unit brought in $38m. Mr. Berrios stated that this unit pays for itself with the monies it recovers for the county.

Questions/Comments from Commissioners

When asked about loss of FTE’s, Mr. Berrios stated he had 334 and was losing 4 positions which would not be a problem for carrying out their departments work. No further follow-up to address seeming discrepancy with budget.
Commissioners commended him for his outreach efforts to educate the public about the assessment process and for his marketing efforts that raise money for the county.

Recorder of Deeds - Presented by Karen Yarborough, Recorder of Deeds
Proposed Budget
FY17 - $12,732,082 - (Includes $1,236,846 in Fixed Cost Transfer)
FY16 - $12,572,943
Difference - Increase of $150,139
Proposed FTEs
FY17 - 143
FY16 - 171
Difference - Decrease of 28 positions (13/Corporate Fund and 15/Special Purpose Funds)
Key Information Presented:

Revenue generated has increased since 2014.
Have opened platform for e-recording of deeds.
Have increased their outreach services and strengthened their Fraud Unit.
Singled out the Property After Death Program - an education program developed by her office to inform the public about a new Illinois law that allows property to be passed on after death of the owner without going to probate.
Reduced staff through attrition but does not endorse this budget as she feels staff has been cut to a minimum

Questions/Comments from Commissioner

Comm. Boykin asked if staff cuts would “risk filings”. Ms. Yarborough stated that she was unable to answer that but her staff is very committed and does good work.
Comm. Sims stated that she hoped the referendum to eliminate the office of the Recorder of Deeds and move those responsibilities to the office of the County Clerk would not pass. She stated that she thought a separate office made it easier to serve the public and thought the recorder did a phenomenal job with the people she has.
Comm. Steele asked about a plan for digitizing the historical records in the office and she responded there is no plan as there is no staff to dedicate to such a project. Comm. Steele thought a summer project for employing college students could be developed for such a project.
Comm. Silvestri asked about the Property Fraud Unit. Ms. Yarborough stated no cuts were being made to that signature program which is one of their non-core functions. They have a very capable staff of investigators that has been doing great work in dealing with fraudulent filings.
Comm. Gainer asked about staff time spent complying with the “employment plan”. (I think this meant Shakman Compliance) Ms. Yarborough stated “too much time and money” have been spent but did not give any indication of how much longer it might take to come into compliance.
Comm. Gainer also thanked her office for help with fraud issues concerning filing of liens on land bank properties.

Department of Human Rights and Ethics - Presented by Ranjit Hakim, Executive Director
Proposed Budget
FY17 - $942,645 (Includes $136,055 in Fixed Costs Transfer)
FY16- $805,971
Difference - Increase of $136,674
Proposed FTEs
FY17 - 10
FY16 - 10.5
Difference - Decrease of 0.5
Key Information Presented:

Department charged with supporting 3 boards - Cook County Commission on Human Rights, Cook County Board of Ethics, and the Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues
With partial automation have been able to increase number of compliance audits and investigations that the Board of Ethics can perform with no staffing increase. Goal moving forward is to respond/resolve all inquiries to the BOE within 2-3 days.
Commission on Human Rights no longer has a backlog of cases and has reduced the average number of days to handle a claim to 425 days - with a goal for 2017 of handling 80% of cases in less than 400 days.
Other Goals for 2017 include resuming budgetary, personnel support for the Commission on Women’s Issues for the first time since 2013 and a major update of the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance, and more ethics training for personnel.

Questions/Comments from Commissioners

Comm. Gainer thanked him for their work on the Earned Sick Time Ordinance and the Conflict of Interest Issue at the Litigation Committee.

Office of the President
Presented by Brian Hamer, Chief of Staff and Stephen Shaw, Deputy Chief of Staff
Proposed 2017 Budget
FY17 - $2,207,512 - (Includes $184,658 in Fixed Costs Transfer)
FY16 - $1,962,684 - (Includes approximately $90,000 reimbursement from Forest Preserve District that will no longer be netted against expenses in 2017 Budget)
Difference - $244,828
Proposed FTEs
FY17 - 18
FY16 - 19
Difference - Decrease of 1
Key Information Presented:

In the past year the President has taken measures to shrink the real estate footprint of the county
A countywide Time and Attendance System has been implemented, and 10,000 employees are on the system so far.
A new website was launched.
Next year efforts will continue in modernizing the IT systems throughout all county offices.

Justice Advisory Council - Presented by Lanetta Haynes Turner, Executive Director
Proposed 2017 Budget - Public Safety Fund
FY17 - $669,673 (Includes $77,970 in Fixed Costs Transfer)
FY16 - $546,561
Difference - $123,112
Proposed FTEs
FY17 - 7
FY16 - 7
Difference - none
Key Information Presented:

Budget and FTE count remain steady.
Committed resources this past year to bond court reform and decreasing jail population.
Look at Criminal Justice from health and economic standpoint and work towards reforms.
Policy work and grant administration is what they do.
Successful in Automatic Transfer Reform - young people being held in Juvenile Court.
Also successful in ending mandatory 5 year probation for youth resulting in lower case loads for Probation Officers and better use of resources.
Received $1m grant for looking at data to improve youth outcomes in violence prone neighborhoods - will be focused in Harvey and Chicago Heights.
Increase in funding for Violence Prevention (up from $1.9m to $4.9m) - focus on employment programs in Austin Community
Have been rebuilding grants infrastructure - obtaining, monitoring and tracking grants.

Questions/Comments from Commissioners

Comm. Gainer asked about $1m jobs program - who would they be working with on this? Will be working with Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership but running the program on their own. Money is coming from Revenue increase and to be used to pay youth in a summer jobs program.
Comm. Gainer also asked about Advisory Board for JTDC. Asked about working with Supt. Dixon from JTDC. Ms. Haynes-Turner stated that it has been challenging working with the new superintendent and the Advisory Board is struggling to determine their purpose and how to move forward. Comm. Gainer stated that the Advisory Board was established to help the youth at the JTDC connect with the larger community and was emphatic that the Advisory Board and the JTDC have to connect so that the issues that led to being under a consent decree do not happen again.

The following commissioners were not in attendance at any time during this meeting: Tobolski, Morrison, Schneider, Goslin, Butler, Moody, Arroyo
Meeting went into recess for the day at 12noon.

Observer - Cynthia Schilsky

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Cook County Board Budget Hearings Continue

10/25/2016

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Cook County Board Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings
Second day of Budget Hearings - October 18, 2016

Bureau of Administration - Includes the following:

Department of Environmental Control
Office of the Medical Examiner
Department of Adoption and Family Supportive Services
Department of Transportation and Highways
Department of Animal and Rabies Control
Cook County Law Library

Proposed Budget
2016: $61 million
2017: $124 million (increases due to salaries and addition of benefits moved from Fixed Charges, but also $22 million in additional Motor Fuel Tax Illinois First funds being available for use plus $39 million in additional grants being available for highway and environmental projects)

Overview by Chief Administrative Officer Martha Martinez:

This Bureau is very diverse with 6 Departments, working to serve the residents of Cook County
They are committed to developing, coordinating and managing programs to enable County departments to better serve the residents of Cook County in a transparent, efficient and cost-effective manner
In 2011 their head count of all employees in the Bureau was 567.1, for 2017-employee count for the Bureau will be 527.6 a decrease of 39.5 or a 7% decrease in the workforce.

Environmental Control - Proposed FTE's 23
Highlights of the presentations:

Green Leadership Team-Cook County has surpass the goal of 10% and realized a decrease over 20% in GHG emissions from building energy for 2010-2015
Improve Space Utilization-decrease in space usage at 69 W. Washington by 15%
Liquid Hazardous Waste reporting-implementation will help protect the public ensuring that data on the stored hazardous chemicals is available to first responders.
EASY Database- Phase II will include the Solid Waste and Asbestos/Demolition divisions in 2017, and will implement online payment and permit application process.

Questions/Comments from the Commissioners focused on:

Since this Department looked at a site with Asbestos and Mercury issues, wanted to know should there be ways of expanding coverage to protect the public while there are gaps in State and Federal Law. (Was told that Environmental Control Department contacted the State EPA with not much success, they are working with State Legislators to resolve this issue)
Are we doing all we can to protect the public, suggestion to look for Grants to help with this issue? (Was told yes they will do that)

Medical Examiner - Dr. Arunkumar - Proposed FTEs - 115.3
Highlights of presentation:

The Medical Examiner is fully accredited with the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME). Multiple STAR targets were met to attain full accreditation including turnaround time for autopsy reports, number of autopsies per pathologist, and turnaround time for toxicology reports.
Subcontracting toxicology Services-Optimize toxicology turnaround time and reduce cost by subcontracting majority of toxicology tests. Stat carbon monoxide and alcohol testing will be done in-house.
Many offices around the country are out sourcing toxicology services as it is increasingly difficult and costly to validate and test new emerging drugs and instruments and maintain accreditation
A budget reduction of approximately $1 million is projected in FY17
Reduced toxicology testing turnaround time allows for families to receive closure on cases of their loved ones much quicker from two months to one week.

Questions/ Concerns commissioners focused on:

Much discussion on out- sourcing the Toxicology Services. Commissioners are worried about the reliability, efficiency and cost savings or out sourcing. (Was told this will be more efficient and turn around will be better, we currently do not have the personnel or equipment to handle the new emerging drugs such as Fentanyl and continued use of Heroin and to keep up with Gun violence deaths. It will also be more cost effective)
Concerned with the layoffs- are we lying off people who are licensed? (Told that most have Bachelor or Master degree, they are not licensed. Those being laid off 16 union positions, ACSME. This department is working to get these people hired in other positions)
Concern for budget item for out sourcing testing, as there has not been an RFP for a contract. (Told they are in the process of sending out a RFP but there is room in the budget to accommodate the cost of out sourcing toxically services. If there if no RFP in 4 months that they can use the companies that they outsource over flow to do the testing temporarily.)
Concern that there are only 2 companies that do this testing and they are not in Illinois. (Told will look for Illinois companies but these two are the best. Companies they use need to be fully accredited.)
Concern about the burial of indigents especially those who died under the age of 16. Want to make sure they have a proper burial.
Wanted to know how Gun Violence deaths involving Police Officers are handled. (Told that they are handled like any other homicide by gunshots, in addition to looking at the gun shot wound in an autopsy, they will look for other trauma to the body. Police cases are treated with high priority.

Department of Adoption & Family supportive Services - Proposed FTE's 11
Key Information Presented:

Revised Home Study template to incorporate significant changes to the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act to help with court determination of an allocation of parent responsibilities.
Established a partnership with the Clerk’s office to receive court order faster and with greater efficiency.
Introduction of DAFSS’s Adoption disclosure law (sponsorship with state representative Sara Feigenholtz and Chicago Bar Association Adoption Committee) an amendment of adoption law which expands identifying information to include the reasons birth parent(s) placed child for adoption, how adoptive parents were identified, and whether or not birth parents agreed to post adoption contract.

Department of Transportation and Highways - Proposed FTE's 289.5
Key Information Presented:

Approval of the County’s Long Range Transportation Plan
Application of zero-based budgeting which requires a delicate balance of Department resources between operating costs and capital program needs,
Release of a “Call For Projects” application in early 2017 for local governments to compete for County MFT funding.
Funding for much of the activity of this department is being shifted to a Motor Fuel Tax (MFT) Account

Comments/Concerns commissioners focused on:

Happy with the sift to 501 account (MFT Account)
Concerned that equitable distribution for transportation among all of the 17 districts.

Animal and Rabies Control - Dr. Donna Alexander, Administrator - Proposed FTEs - 23
Key Information Presented:

Implement a new cloud-based case management system to increase the efficiency of the department’s operation.
Train municipal first responders in both animal control and animal response in disaster allows the Department to provide more trained personnel without increasing County’s FTE’s.
Improve the efficiency of low cost rabies clinics to reduce waiting time and increase the number of vaccinations.

Concerns/Comments commissioners focused on:

Commissioners want to build an Animal Shelter especially in the Southern suburbs (Told that this would be expensive even if they were to purchase an old warehouse. Cost of renovations very high and not in budget)
Believe the mission of the Animal and Rabies Control should be broader. (Told the mission is to prevent the spread of the fatal disease of rabies to humans and companion animals through vaccination, registration, education, legislation and surveillance. To work with the veterinary community to educate the public regarding emerging animal communicable diseases and responsible pet ownership. To enforce State and County Animal Control Ordinances. This is a state mandated department and functions and duties are determined by State of Illinois. No mission is perfect but they planning to expand education.
Concerned by Dog Tags there should be away for stay dogs when picked up to be tracked to Animal Hospital so owners can be found before they are pounded and possibly euphemized.
Animal abuser registry (Told in the process completing)
Wants notification when rabies shots will expire. (Told no room on certification for email address, and Veterinarian Offices already do this)
Increase number of clinics that will put an identification chip in animals (Told there are currently 3 Clinics in Cook County, expensive to do because of sanitation issues.
Puppy Mill ban (Told currently 2 court cases for puppy mills, one case they were able to take away the dogs the second case the people were in compliance with the laws.
There should shorter pick up time for wildlife that is threatening the public. (Told new Warden was hired but it takes time for training)

There were many more questions and concerns. It was decided that Commissioners interested in this issue should meet with Animal Control and send them questions and concerns.

The Veterans Affairs Commission used to have it own budget line in the Budget. It is now under the auspices of the Bureau of Administration. There were many Veterans present during the Budget Hearing. Bill Browne, Director for Cook County Department of Veteran Affairs spoke of the concern of many veterans that their services will be cut. Tanya Anthony Director of Budget and Commissioners stated that this would not happen and assured them that the budget for next year is the same as in 2016 at $500,075.

Cook County Law Library - Proposed FTEs - 30
Key Information Presented

Approximately 114,700 patrons visited the Law Library in 2016.
Offered over two dozen educational programs for the public and the legal profession in new renovated training facilities

Meeting lasted 31/2 hours, all Commissioners except Schneider present.

Bureau of Human Resources - Velisha Haddox, Bureau Chief
Proposed Budget
2016: $4.35 million
2017: $5.15 million proposed (difference mainly due to salary increases and addition of benefits moved from Fixed Charges, where they were in 2016)

Proposed FTEs
2016: 48 FTEs
2017: 45 proposed

Key Information Presented:

The County Board has ratified 93% of the 2012-2017 bargaining contracts. Successful in all the interest arbitrations. Consistent with the County’s obligation under CBAs. BHR has scheduled all 3rd step hearings within 30 days of receiving the union’s request.
BHR has expanded the management and supervisory trainings to include progressive discipline, time, and attendance management training.
For FY16, BHR set a goal of 98 days to fill vacancies from Request to Hire to the effective Start Day of Hire, which BHR has accomplished. For FY17, target will decrease to 90 days.
Cost per drug test because of out sourcing reduced from $148 per drug test in FY16 to $55 per drug test in FY17

Question/Comments from Commissioners focused on:

Want to know total of number of vacancies, layoffs, and new hiring in the County not including CCHHS. (Told Commissioners will be sent this information)
There is an increase in Civil Litigation cases concerning civil rights, want to know how this is handled, and how much is paid out. In addition what are we doing about disciplining for Health related incidence, Police issues, and Sexual harassment. (Told that there is discipline training for the staff. Due to the lateness of the day a more complete answer will be given later in the Budget process)
Lack of Wellness in healthcare plan. (Told this is more costly but there are plans for Wellness education programs. Wellness programs have been discussed in the past but not implemented.
Since the Medical Unit, which did drug testing and physicals, has been disbanded what will happen to the employees working there? There were 5 FTE’s (non-union) and they are trying to help them look for other positions.
Can the Medical Division be moved to HHS instead of being eliminated and would that save money? (Told HHS does not have the capacity for the entire drug testing (about 2000-drug test in FY15). Very comfortable with out sourcing drug testing. BHR would need to do a cost analysis.)
Question concerning the hiring of someone with a criminal background or involved in a County lawsuit.. How long is this kept on file at the BHR and is it easy for them to reapply for job? (Told, it is kept on permanent record for a few years. They do background check on each applicant. Information about employees involved with a lawsuit is also part of his/her permanent record also for a few years.
Wants, information about diversity within Cook County employees, numbers by gender and ethnicity. (Told they will send all Commissioners this information.
As the Medical Unit is disbanded, and no RFP has been sent out for contracts to do drug testing etc., how will you handle this by Dec. 1 when the layoffs will occur. (Told drug testing will continue) A Commissioner was not happy with this because he feels that Contracts needs to be approved by the Board and since there is not enough time to do an RFP and have it approved by the Board, this Bureau is going around the Board to get this done. This is not a good situation.

All commissioners except Schneider were present.

Secretary to the Board of Commissioner - Matthew DeLeon

Proposed Budget - (This includes the Commissioners and their staff as well as the Secretary to the Board)
2016: $7.62 million
2017: $8.98 million (increase due to salaries for employees, not Commissioners whose salaries are fixed by law at $85,000, plus addition of benefits moved from Fixed Charges)

2016: 87.5 FTEs
2017: 88.1 FTEs

Key Information Presented:

Moving to modernize and make accessible the County Board Room, Commissioners’ Offices and President’s Office - to bring them into ADA Compliance.
5th floor to be completely renovated including enlarging the Board Room to hold 160 seats. There will be separate seating for staff and guest. Design phase to begin in FY17 with completion planned for FY18
Chairing and staffing the Cook County Historic Advisory Council, per Board Resolution. The goal is to Develop the history of Cook County and have it ready in 15 years, the 200 Anniversary of Cook County. All Cook County Departments are creating histories. This will be a permanent and virtual Archive and will be important in the role CC government played in the development of Cook County.
Live streaming of Board proceedings is a success. Total page views of County Board meetings and committee meetings this year total 74,761 to date.

Question/Comments from Commissioners focused on:

Concerned that there are differences in the budgets of Commissioners. Thought all were to take an 8% reduction in budget. (Told, all commissioners have same budget although not equal. There is a difference in salaries because of benefits. Some Commissioners and staff use the benefits; some do not because they receive benefits from other sources. In addition some employees have worked in the department longer than others.
It was stated that all Commissioner’s offices are budgeted for 1 Commissioner and 4 Staff members - But benefits and length of employment differ and this makes the budget look larger for some Commissioners.
It was also noted that accumulated sick and vacation pay gets charged back to a Commissioner when a staff members leaves this also changes the budget.
It was suggested that the budget line items for salary should be shown in two parts, with benefits and without.
It was suggested that they should create an amendment to equalize the 17 Commissioner’s budget as in the past. This will be considered at the end of the budget process

Note: The Commissioner's proposed budgets range from $405,638 to $520,616. This is why there were concerns expressed by some Commissioners whose budgets are significantly smaller than others.

All were present except for Schneider.
Observer - Nancy Marcus

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Budget Meetings Reveal Cook County Commissioners’ Concerns with Proposed Beverage Tax

10/25/2016

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Cook County Board Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings for 2017 Budget
October 17,2016

Overview of Proposed 2017 Executive Budget
Total Revenues
FY17 - $3,464.8
FY16 - $3,374.8
Difference - Increase of $89.97 (2.7%)

Total Expenditures
FY17 - $3,464.8M
FY17 - $3,374.8M
Difference - Increase of $89.97M (2.7%)
When Special Purpose Funds, Grants, and Capital Budget are also included Total Budget is $4.8Billion

Some observations by CFO Samstein on Executive Budget::

If exclude additional pension contribution, General and Health Funds Budget is essentially flat, with only a 0.2% increase
That small of an increase is even with the Sweetened Beverage Tax proposed to be effective on July 1, 2016
The $74.6 million projected to be collected in 2017 from this new Tax covers only 4 months of collection, from August through November.
Project that in fiscal 2018, the full year collection of this Tax will be $224 million.
But those additional revenues will be needed to offset further expected declines in some of the existing revenue streams (such as cigarette tax).
Definition of “Sweetened Beverage” for tax is broad; modelled on similar tax in Philadelphia.
May be challenged in court (Philadelphia has been).
Full year of sales tax increase in 2017 projected to result in $470 million.
General Fund Balance (which some refer to as “reserves”) was about $99 million at end of 2015. Expect about that at end of 2016. But would like to have 1 to 2 months of General Fund expenditures in General Fund Balance, and this falls short of that goal.
Normally provide non-union employees with raises equivalent to those of union employees. Breaking from that this year and only giving non-union employees an increase of 1.5%, representing cost of living, but some of the higher paid employees capped. However, step increases are being given

Questions from Commissioners focused on:

Proposed Sweetened Beverage Tax
Viability of keeping promise not to raise any other taxes for next 3 years
Pensions and what plans does President have to propose other legislation since prior plan is stuck (told that starting discussions with key players like unions now)
Layoffs
Savings for not treating non-union employees like union for purposes of raises

Bureau of Finance
Includes Departments of Revenue, Risk Management, Budget & Management Services; County Comptroller; Offices of CFO, Contract Compliance, Enterprise Resource Planning, and Chief Procurement Officer

Proposed Budget:
FY17 - $23.95 million ($20.79 million + $3.16 million in benefits)
FY16 - $19.79 million without benefits.
Difference - Increase of $1 million in 2017.

Proposed FTEs:
FY17 - 230.3
FY16 - 235.7
Difference - Decrease of 5.4 FTEs.

Key Point for 2017 Proposed Budget Presented

For first time, allocating employee benefit costs to departments
These include employee health insurance allotment, life insurance, health insurance, dental insurance, unemployment compensation, vision care insurance, group pharmacy insurance
These previously in separate, county-wide category of Fixed Costs, which is much lower for 2017 as a result
But this makes it difficult to compare department costs proposed in 2017 to 2016

Questions/Comments from Commissioners for Bureau Departments included:

Do employees recognize how much County is providing in way of benefits vs. what would receive if went elsewhere.
Comm. Gainer wants wellness incentives (healthier employees reduce costs, not to mention benefit to employees) to become bigger part of union negotiations.
As result of new Performance Management Based Budgeting, more offices under other elected officials participating. Budget Director said 99% compliance.
Offices not in agreement with Executive Budget are Public Defender, Chief Judge, State’s Attorney, Board of Review, and small variation with Clerk of the Court.
Have about 720 companies now certified for Contract Compliance, up from 300 a few years ago.
Roll out of new Time and Attendance system as well as rest of Enterprise Resource Planning going well.

Commissioners present: All except Goslin, Schneider, & Silvestri.

County Auditor
Proposed Budget:
FY17 - $1,156 thousand ($995 thousand + $161 thousand in befit costs)
FY16 - $925 thousand
Difference - increase (excluding benefits allocated) of $70 thousand.

Proposed FTEs: 12 vs. 12 in 2016. No increase.

Key Information: Thanks to support of Auditor shown by Board, all County offices cooperating with audits.

Commissioners present: Moore, Sims, Steele, and Tobolski.

Department of Administrative Hearings
Proposed Budget:
FY17 - $1.475 million ($1.350 million + $125,000 in benefit costs)
FY16 - $1.308 million
Difference - increase (excluding benefits allocated) of $42,000.

Proposed FTEs: 9 vs. 9 in 2016. No increase.

Key Information Presented:

Facilitates adjudication by Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) of ordinance violations issued by County departments
ALJs are independent contractors, and over half of budget goes to contracted services.
Average cost per case is $11.56 in 2016, far below costs of bringing cases to court, and down from $22.14 in 2015.
Under new state law, will also be able to adjudicate local municipal ordinance violations starting Jan. 1, 2017
Current 14 ALJs should be able to handle expected increased load
STAR targets for 2017 goals will improve on all 2016 expected results, and includes customer service satisfaction survey metric.

Commissioners present: Butler, Moore, Sims, Steele, & Tobolski.

Observer - Priscilla Mims

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Proposed $4.8 Billion Cook County Budget Includes Possible Beverage Tax with Promise of No New Taxes Through 2019

10/17/2016

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Cook County Board Special Meeting - October 13, 2016

Meeting Purpose:
Presentation of 2017 Executive Budget by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle

President Preckwinkle presented the following to the Cook County Board:

Proposed Executive Budget of $4.8 billion (Agenda-Item 16-5866)
Proposed ordinance establishing a one cent per ounce tax on sweetened beverages (Item 16-5931).
Proposed a resolution that states that if the sweetened beverage tax is passed, the President and Cook County Board resolve not to further increase any of the home rule taxes or deviate from the Property Tax Relief ordinances in 2017, 2018, and 2019 (Item 16-5932)

Some key aspects of the Proposed Executive Budget:

2017 Executive Budget is $400 million greater than 2016, mainly due to increases in salaries
87% of the budget is for health and safety functions of the County (excluding pensions and debt services).
85% of the General Fund is for personnel costs, and 80% of the County personnel are unionized.
If the sweetened beverage tax is not passed, the President estimates that there would have to be an additional 670 layoffs in 2017, with 200-300 more in 2018, and 500-600 more in 2019. Most of these layoffs would come from the health and safety areas, where the majority of the personnel are.
Even with the sweetened beverage tax, this proposed budget reflects 300 layoffs mainly in the Health & Hospitals System (HHS), President’s office, and Recorder of Deeds office. However, there is actually a net gain of HHS personnel by 132, even as there are proposed to be layoffs. These additional people will be in different jobs from those laid off.
In 2010, the County had 25,613 full time equivalent employees (FTEs). In 2017, it is proposed to have 23,228. This represents a 10% reduction since 2010, a reduction of 202 FTE positions from 2016.
The daily jail population is currently around 7,300, the lowest since 1991. This will enable the demolition of 3 divisions within the jail, saving about $188 million in repair costs that would otherwise have been required.
Savings will also come from reducing the number of people called for jury service on any day. A relatively small number of those actually are chosen for jury service, but all who are called are paid for the day.
Revenues are derived from HHS patient fees (33.6%), sales tax (18.7%), property taxes (16.7%), other non-property taxes, such as liquor, cigarette, and hotel taxes (13.3%), other fees (6.14%), grants (5.9%), and other miscellaneous revenues.
This budget reflects the expected reductions in funds from the state of Illinois, based on the state’s Stop Gap Spending Plan. Should Illinois further reduce funds to the County, further reductions will be necessary.
For the first time, each department’s budget reflects the costs of employee benefits, which were previously lumped into the “Fixed Costs” category.
Of the $4.8 billion budgeted, $400 million are capital costs.
The 1 cent of additional sales tax that was passed last year (and which was effective Jan. 1, 2016) is projected to produce $495 million this year, which will again be allocated for pension obligation reduction ($353.4 million), increased transportation funding ($64.5 million), increased debt service costs ($57 million), and “pay as you go” capital equipment, such as technology ($20.3 million).

To view the Executive Budget recommendation

An overall description of the budget is included in Volume 1.
Volume 2 contains specific budget details for each department.

Departmental Hearings - held by the Cook County Board Finance Committee for review of the Proposed Budget begin on Monday, October 17.

Check the Daily Schedule here
Meetings will be live streamed from the County’s web site and will also be Video-taped for later viewing
League observers will be filing reports on these departmental meetings, so you can also check the LWVCC Eyewitness Reports for summaries.

Public Comments: At the start of the Board meeting, there were a number of speakers who expressed support for the proposed Sweetened Beverage tax, mainly on the basis that such a tax can be expected to reduce consumption of those beverages, resulting in improved health.

Public Hearings: An opportunity for the public to comment about the budget to the Finance Committee.
To register to speak

Monday, Oct. 24 at 6:30 pm at the Skokie Courthouse
Thursday, Oct. 27 at 6:30 pm at the Markham Courthouse
Monday, Oct. 31 at 9 am in Cook County Board Room (569) in the County Building;
Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 6:30 pm at the Maywood Courthouse

Other Observations:

The office of the President and all Cook County Board member positions are up for re-election in November, 2018, which is also when the 2019 proposed budget will be up for review. This means that the present Board members will not be faced with voting for additional taxes after this year and prior to facing voters in 2018 should the sweetened beverage tax pass.
Ads are already running on television from the beverage industry denouncing such a tax. Expect lots of public speakers from both sides (and lots of lobbying of Commissioners) at the upcoming Public Meetings on the budget.

Observer - Priscilla Mims

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