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2018 Cook County Budget Passes Unanimously with 323 Layoffs

11/21/2017

Cook County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee Meeting and Board Meeting
November 20, 2017

Board members present: All 17

In a break from past practice, the Board meeting was convened first in order to allow 29 public speakers to be heard. Most of these speakers were either employees scheduled to lose their jobs or their union representatives. Many of these employees had over 15 years with the County. However, the repeal of the sweetened beverage tax meant a loss of $200 million in revenues for 2018, and the only way to balance the budget was with a reduction in personnel costs, the largest portion of the budget.

After the public speakers, the Board meeting recessed so the Finance Committee could convene and consider 6 amendments to balance the budget and make necessary corrections. After passing 5 of the 6 amendments, there was a delay because they were waiting for copies of a substitute amendment 2-S-1, which was posted on the web site shortly after 12 noon. The Commissioners waived the rule requiring at least 24 hours prior notice in order to vote on the amendment, which contained the vast majority of the decreases in expenditures and employee positions necessary to balance the budget. This amendment eliminated

$158 million in expenditures
1,017 vacant positions
323 currently filled positions. Those positions came from
- Assessor – 5
- Board of Review – 8
- Health & Hospitals System – 34
- Chief Judge – 156
- Clerk – 3
- Office of the President – 15
- Sheriff – 100

(This only adds up to 321 positions, but this is what this observer heard the Budget Director state.) However, this version also saved a number of jobs that had been listed as being eliminated in the earlier versions of the amendment.

While furlough days had been suggested by the Chief Judge in lieu of layoffs, only the Clerk of the Court Dorothy Brown was able to secure the written acceptance of the affected unions, so only her area will utilize furlough days. Besides the Clerk of the Court’s area, there were no layoffs in the offices of the Public Defender, Recorder of Deeds, State’s Attorney, or Treasurer, although they did lose currently vacant positions which all but the Treasurer would have liked to have filled.

Sixteen out of the 17 Commissioners were sponsors of all 6 amendments. Only Commissioner Garcia was not a sponsor, but he voted along with all the other Commissioners for all 6 amendments.

Some of the comments by the Commissioners included:

The Commissioners should become involved with the budget process earlier (May) and votes on revenues should be part of the process to provide room for compromise, unlike this year when the vote to rescind the sweetened beverage tax took place outside of the process. While no cuts were made to the Commissioners’ offices, they should voluntarily spend less than allocated. (Suffredin)
We were able to reduce the tax burden on Cook County residents by $200 million (Morrison)
Most of the elected County officials did not support maintaining the sweetened beverage tax, and people who were laid off should remember that during next year’s elections. Cited that 86% of Cook County people were against the tax. (Tobolski)
We were able to make cuts without reducing the frontline employees, and I am pleased that there is a new position in the Inspector General’s office who will handle sexual harassment allegations. (Boykin)
Unlike most governments, Cook County has not increased property taxes to reflect inflation. According to the Center for Tax and Budget accountability, that means Cook County has lost out on over $400 million in property taxes. The County needs more structural changes, including following through on consolidating the functions of procurement, technology, and human resources, which are currently in some of the elected officials’ offices. (Garcia)
Most citizens do not see where the revenues for County government are spent. We need to do a better job of explaining what the County does. (Moody)
All the elected officials in Cook County need to take this Board seriously. (Daley)
This is not the budget I wanted. (Preckwinkle)

Observer - Priscilla Mims

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Cook County Board Approves MacArthur Foundation Grant for Safety and Justice Challenge Program

11/18/2017

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Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting - November 15, 2017

Significant Actions Taken:

The Board’s approval of the Safety + Justice Challenge Program Grant will fund a set of strategies to reduce the number of low level non-violent detainees in the Cook County Department of Corrections, and reduce racial and ethnic disparities, while maintaining public safety. (Agenda Item 17-5753)
The Resolution 14-4341 Special Purpose Fund Reporting was received and filed with no discussion. (Agenda Item 17-6214)
Referred from the Legislation Committee, the amendment requiring Board approval for certain civil suits was approved. This will require the Cook County States Attorney to notify by letter the members of the Finance Subcommittee on Litigation prior to taking action to file a civil lawsuit or commence legal action in a civil venue against another party, where the lawsuit or legal action seeks damages in excess of $100,000.00. (Agenda Item 17-4717)

Other Items of Interest:
Most of the items on the agenda were referred to committees.

Update on major technology projects including Tyler Technologies, were referred to Technology committee (Agenda Item 17-6199)
Resolution calling for Cook County public safety stakeholders to work together on a Court Utilization Study was referred to Asset Management Committee (Agenda Item 17-6196)
Proposed ordinance amendment concerning decorum of public speakers at meetings was moved to the Rules Committee (Agenda Item 17-6195)
Status update on the Consolidation of Recorder of Deeds and County Clerk was moved to Legislation Committee
An amendment to an ordinance to prevent sexual harassment in Cook County was referred to the Legislation Committee (Agenda Item 17-6302)

Observed by: Nancy Marcus Meeting Length: 1 hour

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County Hospital System Resists Cutting $27M at Cook County Budget Hearing

11/12/2017

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Cook County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings
November 7, 2017

Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS)

Commissioners absent for all or most of the meetings: Moody
Commissioners present: Arroyo, Boykin, Butler (half the day), Daley, Deer, Fritchey (less than an hour), Gainer, Garcia, Goslin, Moore, Morrison, Schneider, Silvestri, Sims, Suffredin, Tobolski

Hospital System CEO Shannon’s letter outlined $12,430,000 in cuts of the $27 million requested (the amount allocated to CCHHS from Sweetened Beverage tax)

Closure of Oak Forest facility, patients transferred to other CCHHS sites
Overtime reductions by filling vacancies faster, & better coordination of staffing
Eliminate Tuberculosis Fund and lead monitoring & positions, with care transferred to Stroger
Eliminate Access to Care (suburban primary care)
Reduce pharmacy outpatient hours & positions
Transfer Child Advocacy Center to Stroger Hospital
Merge Morton East Clinic with Cicero Clinic
IT help desk consolidation, merge other departments, eliminate Grants
Merge substance abuse staffing with other departments
Eliminate vacancies that are unfilled for more than 2 years

Items of Interest at the Hearing:

Commissioners Morrison, Tobolski and Boykin asked the most probing questions, calling for the full $27 million in cuts out of the Hospital’s $2.4 billion budget, citing other County departments who were being forced to eliminate attorneys and other public safety and justice programs which were the responsibility of government. Shannon replied that any further cuts would have a detrimental impact on both revenue and care delivery due to decreased services. Commissioner Morrison responded that Shannon, not the Cook County Commissioners, is responsible for identifying cost savings and making the hard decisions on where to cut. “CCHHS needs the $403 million ($110 million direct subsidy plus $293 million pension and debt service) of tax payers’ funds for 2018 so they need to work collaboratively with the other Cook County departments to fill the $200 million deficit resulting from the loss of the beverage tax repeal” stated Morrison, echoed by Comm. Tobolski, Boykin and others.
Comm. Suffredin noted that $22 million of the DSH (**Disproportionate Share Hospital, CCHHS 2018 Budget on their website listed DSH total of $134.3 million) federal subsidy to indigent care hospitals was not included as revenue in the budget. Shannon replied that renewal of DSH had not been passed in Congress yet, but if paid, would be deducted from the $110 million CC hospital subsidy.
Comm. Boykin asked what the total expenditure on outside contracts/procurements was. Deputy CEO Elwell said he did not have that information immediately available and would get back, but agreed that it was a big dollar amount.
Comm. Boykin asked why the outpatient pharmacy wasn’t closed rather than just reducing hours, which would be greater cost savings. Shannon responded that the un-insured population don’t have access to medications at commercial pharmacies, so they need to obtain them at CCHHS.
Several Commissioners asked about employee salaries, including nurses, IT etc. noting that they were significantly higher than at comparable hospitals and that there seemed to be an excess of highly paid administrative staff. They were told they were all “justified based on CCHHS union pay scale, step increases, longevity & certifications”.
Comm. Boykin asked what the total “bad debt” was. When several different dollar amounts ranging from $90 to over $300 million were given to him, he asked why the CC Board was not being given an accurate number and what was being done to collect these accounts receivable. He was told that collections on bad medical debt was limited because most of the patients had no money and that very few companies would be interested in pursuing it. Comm. Sims asked for comparison of yield with prior debt collection vendors. The $90 million number is what is probably collectable.
Questions on why the 680 vacancy positions at CCHHS were not just eliminated, with cost savings. Shannon said that only 10% of the cost of these vacancies was included in the budget and that most of them were in the process of being filled. There is a normal turn-over of staff due to retirement, relocation etc. and no cost savings would result.
Commissioners asked what the number of staffed beds, RNs, RN/patient ratio and inpatient census were. Shannon said he thought there were 415 beds (**CCHHS website states 464) and didn’t know the exact number of RNs or census for Stroger or Provident. What is the ratio of clinical to non-clinical FTEs? Shannon said 35% non-clinical.
Comm. Garcia asked about the budget experience of the CCHHS independent Board and was told several were highly qualified in this area.
Many of the Commissioners asked whether CCHHS had ever shown a profit. The CEO provided a rather ambiguous response. (***CountyCare as a component of CCHHS per the published financials may have had an operating profit if pension & debt service were not factored in.)
What was the cost of the FHN (Family Health Network) acquisition which is expected to result in an additional 160,000 CountyCare members? A specific dollar amount was not provided, but CCHHS CEO expects most of the cost to be paid by the additional Medicaid capitated premiums and an additional 22 FTEs will be required to handle the increased volume of members. Comm. Schneider wondered if there was enough capacity at CCHHS for this large increase in patients which Shannon assured him there was more than enough capacity.
Comm. Tobolski asked for the risk profile of the new FHN members, annual cost and capitated income per member which the CEO did not know. What is the capitated rate and expense for the current CountyCare members. Shannon responded monthly payments are $626 for ACA Medicaid, Traditional Medicaid: in the low $200s and for seniors & persons with disability $1,150. Cost per member not mentioned. Several of the Commissioners questioned CCHHS on their risky uni-lateral decision to purchase Family Health Network without consulting with the CC Board, leaving the CC taxpayers as the deep pockets if this endeavor failed.

Observer - Dr. Susan Kern Length of Meeting - 7 hours

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The Public Speaks! Do NOT Cut Budgets of Cook County Health and Hospitals System or the Public Defender

11/8/2017

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Public Hearing on Proposed Cook County 2018 Budget
October 31, 2017 - Cook County Board Room

Items of interest: There were 42 registered speakers .The hearing began at 9:00 am and ended at 11:15 am. The comments were divided into two main themes.

Do not cut the Public Defender’s Budget. Cuts to this office would cause a shortage of lawyers and they are constitutionally mandated to provide legal services to the public.
Do not cut the Health and Hospital Services Budget. There were both Cook County Heath and Hospitals System (CCHHS) employees and members of the community that use CCHHS services who stated that these services were greatly needed in the community and cuts would be detrimental to the health and well being of the community.

Laurence Msall from the Civic Federation spoke on ways to cut the budget. They are as follows:

Revise collective bargaining agreements to lower costs and improve work rules;
Implement the Health System’s proposed reductions to the FY2018 budget recommendation and explore additional opportunities for savings in the Health System;
Eliminate the unincorporated areas by having adjoining municipalities assume them, thereby saving the County from providing services, such as policing, which cannot be done efficiently or economically;
Create a unified property tax administrative office;
Assess opportunities for jail cost reductions; and
Explore other reforms such as streamlining administrative functions.

You can find the full report from the Civic Federation here.

Reported by Nancy Marcus

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Will Cook County Expand "Enterprise Zones" to Western Suburbs?

11/6/2017

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Cook County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings
November 2, 2017

Office of Economic Development (OED)

Commissioners Present: Daley, Gainer, Morrison, Simms, Boykin, Silvestri,, Moore
Commissioners Absent: Deer left after about 5 minutes, Tobolski, Moody, Goslin, Schneider, Butler, Fritchey, Suffredin, Arroyo, Garcia

The Office Of Economic Development works to bring businesses into Cook County. It also works closely with all of the collar counties. It works across departments in order to achieve long-term planning goals and regional development. The OED attracts both private investment and grants from the federal government, mainly from HUD (Housing and Urban Development).
Mike Jasso and Susan Campbell were the main presenters from this department.

Some Highlights:

One of their main goals is to match affordable housing with where the jobs are located.
They have achieved some success with this goal in a program called South Suburban Initiative. They have attracted metal companies and trucking companies and have achieved some HUD money for this.
One way they attract businesses to an area is to create an enterprise zone in that area. Then business can apply for tax breaks in that zone.
Much of their staff is funded through HUD grants, but they do have 12 FTE’s on the county payroll.
They have also attracted private funds through foundations such as the MacArthur Foundation.
They have fulfilled their STAR goal of reporting all tax incentives that they have used and they have reported the numbers of new businesses they have attracted.
They hope to attract more manufacturing to the Chicagoland area.

Some Questions and Answers:

Comm.Simms asked about funding to free buildings of lead based paint. The presenters said that not enough money came from HUD, but some extra funding came from the Illinois Dept. of Public Health.
Comm. Moore asked what areas of the county benefits most from tax incentives? The presenters said that the south suburban areas benefitted the most.
Comm. Boykin asked if the western suburbs could be declared enterprise zones, especially places like Maywood. The presenters agreed that this was a worthy goal and they would try harder to work with businesses to locate in Maywood and other underdeveloped western suburbs.

Observer - Jan Goldberg

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Cook County Commissioners Hear from Land Bank Authority and Asset Management at Budget Hearings

11/5/2017

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Cook County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings
November 2, 21017

Land Bank Authority
Bureau of Asset Management

Commissioners Present: Daley,Moody, Deer, Simms, Gainer, Suffredin, Arroyo, Garcia, Boykin, Schneider, Tobolski
Commissioners Absent: Moore,Fritchey,Butler, Goslin, Silverstri,Morrison,
Since the Land Bank Authority (LBA) is mostly self funded there were few substantive questions. Lots of commissioners thanked the Director, Robert Rose, for his hard work and his successes. Comm. Gainer also received much thanks as she is one of the organizers of this authority.
The Land Bank Authority’s mission is to reduce abandoned and vacant properties in Cook County. It also aims to match properties that have been rehabbed with potential home buyers and /or developers. The Home Buyer Direct Programs has been very successful for first time home buyers.
Some highlights of Director Rose’s Presentation:

The Land Bank Authority is the largest of its kind in the nation.
They have acquired 669 properties and sold over 400. They have demolished over 65 major buildings.
They buy and sell properties slowly and methodically. Mr. Rose compared this to Detroit that has been buying and selling properties too quickly, perhaps with not enough attention to rehabbing new buildings to code.
3/4 of the homes sold to buyers, 1/4 to renters. Prices are usually in order to encourage first time home ownership.
The agency is self-funded, profits go back into the agency in order to acquire and rehab more properties.
Over $17 million has been created in new market values, amounts that can be taxed. They do work with HUD (the federal Housing and Urban Development cabinet dept.) in order to receive more money to do more work.

Questions and Answers:

Comm. Arroyo asked if the sold properties are “out of our hands”. Mr. Rose said that developers have 1 year to redevelop the property. If they do not do so, the property returns to the LBA. Also the same occurs if there are code violations or if they are in behind on property taxes.
Comm. Simms asked about the renters and if they had the “option to buy” at some point. Mr. Rose said that they did. She also asked how people find out about this program. The LBA goes out to community group meeting, housing expos, etc. and they have a website
Comm. Suffredin asked why the LBA needed the approval of this board (the CC Board of Commissioners) in order to continue operations. Mr. Rose said that the LBA has its own board as well. But each year, the rules state that the LBA needs a continuing resolution from both boards. This year they are asking for a $3 million line of credit in order to acquire properties a bit faster.

Commissioners Present for Bureau of Asset Management Presentation: Daley, Morrison, Silvestri, Boykin, Garcia, Moody, Suffredin, Deer, Moore, Simms, Gainer, Arroyo
Commissioners Absent: Goslin, Schneider,Butler, Fritchey,Tobolski
The Bureau of Assets Management reported on some of the same issues as the Capital Budget Dept. The main speaker again was Ann Kalayil , the Assets Manager. She was joined by Jessica Caffrey, the Real Estate Manager, and Earl Manning, the Director of Planning and Policy. All 3 answered questions, with Ann covering most of the material. This office is new. It was born in 2015 due to President Preckwinkle’s efforts. $260 million of assets are managed by this department. Some highlights of their presentation include:

.$1 million was saved in 2017 by using mainly in- house workers as tradesmen and construction workers.
Green technology has saved energy costs equal to the amount of electricity used in over 500 homes in 2017
The “Trash into Cash” program has brought in over $200,000 mainly by recycling over 20 tons of waste in 2017.
A trade school “pipeline” has been developed in which CPS students and students in Juvenile Detention are matched up with apprenticeship programs in various areas such as pipe- fitters, electricians, and carpenters. Many have received full time jobs after learning a specific trade.
A Rosemont transit center is being planned with the village of Rosemont.
The Central Campus Hospital will be completed by June of 2018. It is expected to employ 1300 new workers. (the site of the old Fantus Clinic)
A study to improve the underground walkway or (pedway) is being commissioned.

Questions and Answers:

Comm. Boykin asked for a list of all new employees ( in any new project) including the neighborhoods from which they come. A report would soon follow the hiring process according to Earl M.
Comm. Moody asked about savings by using solar panels. Offices in the 5th district have used these panels with success. More will be forthcoming..
Comm. Morrison asked about the rental possibilities from the 3 vacated floors in the Dunne Building. Ann K. said that other governmental agencies may be interested, especially those state workers in the Thompson Building, since it will be sold soon.
Comm. Moore asked about the future use of the Hawthorne Warehouse complex. Several of the managers said it could possibly be turned into an Industrial park.
Comm. Gainer asked many questions about the abuses of FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act). A back and forth discussion ensued with her and several of the presenters about abuses and lack of discipline for workers who take advantage of this. She blamed the abuses on a “culture of abuse”, dissatisfaction among employees, and a lax oversize style by management. Interestingly, Ann K. mentioned in her answer that much of the custodial staff used by her department came over from the custodial staff from the CC Jail. This comment earned some grunts from the audience as much has been written about the excessive absences and use of overtime at the CC Jail. The exchange ended with the presenters promising to look further into this matter in order to get to the root of the problem.

Observer - Jan Goldberg

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<<Previous

2018 Cook County Budget Passes Unanimously with 323 Layoffs

Cook County Board Approves MacArthur Foundation Grant for Safety and Justice Challenge Program

County Hospital System Resists Cutting $27M at Cook County Budget Hearing

The Public Speaks! Do NOT Cut Budgets of Cook County Health and Hospitals System or the Public Defender

Will Cook County Expand "Enterprise Zones" to Western Suburbs?

Cook County Commissioners Hear from Land Bank Authority and Asset Management at Budget Hearings

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