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President Preckwinkle Presents Proposed $8.04B FY2022 Budget to Cook County Board with No Tax or Fee Increases

10/19/2021

Special Meeting of the Cook County Board followed by
Finance Committee Meeting
October 7, 2021

President’s Comments to the Board

The proposed $8.04 B budget is composed of Operating Funds totaling $6.54 B (including $1.98 B for the General Fund and $3.94 B for the Health Enterprise Fund), plus Capital Costs and Grants.
This proposed budget contains NO NEW TAXES AND NO FEE INCREASES.
The President, a former history teacher, began the meeting by giving everyone a homework assignment: GET VACCINATED! You can save someone’s life, including your own, she said. The pandemic impacts this budget and use of County residents’ tax dollars.
The County is getting almost $1 billion from the Federal government under the American Rescue Plan, with 1/3 proposed to be used for each of 2022, 2023 and 2024. $100 million of the $333 million in this year’s budget will be used to cover expected lost revenues due to COVID, the costs of administering the money, and some capital projects that would otherwise have been funded by debt. The remaining $233 million will be used for community program initiatives. The proposed budget does not contain a listing of all the projects because the County is seeking community input. Instead, the President has said that proposals for using this money will be brought to the Board over the course of the year for approval. The County has created a special purpose fund, the Cook County Equity Fund, for keeping track of all the expenditures.
The President highlighted the $2 B in extra pension fund payments the County has made over the last 6 years. This year’s proposal is for an extra $325 M. As a result, the County is on track to fully fund its pension fund by 2046.
The proposed budget can be viewed HERE

Finance Committee’s Proposed Meeting Schedule regarding the Proposed Budget
Schedule is subject to change. Check HERE, for up-to-date information.
All meetings are virtual and can be viewed HERE

Thursday, Oct. 21: Public hearings at 10 am and 6:30 pm for people to provide comments on the budget.
Monday, Oct. 25: Starting at 9 am, the Committee will hear an overview of the proposed budget, followed by meetings to discuss the budgets of the Offices of the President, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, the Secretary to the Board (which will include the Commissioners’ budgets), the Public Administrator, the Office of the Independent Inspector General, the Treasurer, and the Assessor
Tuesday, Oct. 26: Starting at 9 am, meetings to discuss the budgets of Cook County Health, the Public Defender, County Clerk, Clerk of the Court, and Board of Review.
Wednesday, Oct. 27: Starting at 9 am, meetings to discuss the budgets of the State’s Attorney, Sheriff, Chief Judge, and Land Bank
Thursday, Oct. 28: Starting at 10 am, meetings to discuss the Capital Budget and the American Rescue Plan budget.

Priscilla Mims, League Observer

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Update on Actions to Improve Court Access for Victims of Domestic Abuse Provided to Cook County Board

10/18/2021

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Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting
Oct 7, 2021

Attendance: 16 Commissioners present led by President Preckwinkle and Commissioner Sims

Meeting Highlights:

Agenda Item 21-5492 Proposed resolution requesting an update on actions to improve access to justice for victims of domestic violence. Passed Kate Nolan, staff attorney in the Chief Judge office, reported on the steps being taken to ensure victims of domestic abuse have access to the court system in order to obtain an order of protection. The court is working with the Clerk of the Court, the Sheriff, and other stakeholders to set up 24/7 access. The target date is November 8. A judge will be on call after standard court hours. A remote hearing will be set up. A person could access the hearing via a phone call. If a person calls the Illinois Domestic Abuse Hotline, a facilitator would be available to help with a petition for an order of protection. Judge Evans is also re-establishing the Domestic Violence Court Committee to improve the process in the domestic violence courts. The committee will include judges, a representative from the president’s office, the Clerk of the Court, the Sheriff, and advocates. Ms. Nolan will be on the committee and will be the point person for the Commissioners. She will report back periodically. The committee will address access to the courts, ease of use of the website, and availability of interpreters. Each court will have a coordinator to help the petitioner in the process.
Agenda Item 21-5542 Proposed Resolution to create a special purpose fund for equity and inclusion projects. Passed It seeds nearly $100 million to be allocated through November 2022 to address historical disparities and disinvestment in Black and Latinx communities as well as other communities that are marginalized or have experienced other social and economic disparities.

Observed by: Kathi Graffam Meeting Length - 3 hours

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Resolution to Review Compensation of Elected Officials Approved by Cook County Board Finance Committee

10/18/2021

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Committee Meetings of the Cook County Board of Commissioners
Oct 5 & 6, 2021

Note: all items listed below as being approved by a Committee do not become effective until the Board approves them at the Board meeting held on October 7.

October 5 Meeting Highlights:

Health and Hospitals Committee

Agenda Item 21-0541 CCH and Public Health Dept update on Covid. Deferred Cook County Health (CCH) established a mandate for employee vaccination or weekly testing. As of Oct 1, 83% of the employees are fully vaccinated and 92% had one dose.
21-5290 Resolution declaring mental health a public health crisis. Passed Commissioners Amaya, Degnen, and Kevin Morrison said their constituents want more money spent on mental health services. Commissioner Miller said American Rescue Plan Act funds should be spent on improving these services. Commissioner Daley said that there needs to be coordination with other existing services including private hospitals.

Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee

21-5410 Ordinance to codify the existence, duties and appointments for the Commission on Women’s Issues. Passed The Commission was formed in 1995 by resolution. The purpose of this action was to put it into the County ordinances.
21-0565 Proposed resolution to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day and Reconciliation Day Deferred There were several public speakers in favor and against the proposed resolution. One point often raised by the public speakers and the Commissioners was though it is important to recognize the wrongs done to Indigenous People, there was no reason to take away a day that honors the contributions of the Italian Americans. The State of Illinois has named the last Monday of September as Indigenous Peoples Day. Several Commissioners thanked Commissioner Johnson for initiating the process and resulting difficult conversations that were illuminating.

October 6 Meeting Highlights

Finance Committee

21-5258 Calling for a review and recommendation regarding elected officials’ compensation. Passed. Comm. Suffredin proposed to initiate a process to engage an economist and an outside compensation consultant to review the compensation of Cook County officials and compare it to other counties. The last review was in 2000. The committee would prepare a report on the comparison and recommend salaries to the Commissioners. The report would be prepared by February of 2022. The Commissioners would then decide if any action was needed. Any such increase would be effective in the next fiscal year in 2023 after the election for the offices. The Clerk of the Court would be excepted since it isn’t up for election until Nov. 2024.
21-4303 Proposed amendment to the Procurement Code. Deferred to Nov Mtg. It would require that the Chief Procurement Officer shall make every effort to have at least one woman and one African American or Hispanic on any evaluation committee for an RFQ or RFP.
21-4102 Approval of Unarmed Security Contract for the Juvenile Detention Center (JDT) Passed 11 Aye 4 present Commissioner Sean Morrison No Leonard Dixon of the JDT reported that supplemental guards were needed at the facility because they are currently experiencing a 23% absentee rate. He is recommending a three-year contract with Monterrey Security Consultants to provide 22 officers. The JDT has 400 FTEs in security staff and currently 100 vacancies. The standard absence had been 10-15%. The vacancies are due to COVID, retirement, FMLA, injuries, and difficulty in hiring. The JDT brought in a psychologist to help the staff with the stress of the job. He anticipates that it will take them 3 years to rebuild to full staff. The JDT can have an average of 200 detainees. Comm. Sean Morrison had previously asked to see the contracts and supporting documents and had not received them. He was concerned that the vendor could commit to handling all the requirements. Comm. Daley asked for a follow up report on how the JDT was reducing the absentee rate.

Technology Committee

21-5079 Chief Technology Officer’s major project report. Deferred to the November meeting
The Clerk of Court technology officer reported that they were making progress on the Odyssey system, that allows electronic access to court documents and dates. Initially, Judge Evans delayed the Court from implementing the system. He has since given approval for Phase 1 and 2 to be implemented. The traffic court is in the last phase and will be implemented by the end of the year.
The completion of the Integrated Tax Processing System will be delayed until September of 2024. Comm. Sean Morrison referred to a letter that all the Commissioners received from Treasurer Pappas with concerns about the project. The vendor is Tyler Information Systems and they were originally contracted in 2015 with a completion date of 2019. The contract was performance based and Tyler has not been paid for implementation projects since 2017 although the implementation is continuing. They are also contracted for ongoing licensing and maintenance of the system. Comm. Sean Morrison said Tyler’s performance is disappointing. Comm. Kevin Morrison said he may call a special meeting to address the issues. Since it is a contract issue, the committee would have to meet in executive session.

Observed by: Kathi Graffam Time: 7 hours total

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President Preckwinkle Presents Proposed $8.04B FY2022 Budget to Cook County Board with No Tax or Fee Increases

Update on Actions to Improve Court Access for Victims of Domestic Abuse Provided to Cook County Board

Resolution to Review Compensation of Elected Officials Approved by Cook County Board Finance Committee

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