Cook County Board Finance Committee Meeting
May 11, 2022 The Commissioners agreed to consider a Substitute to replace the original version of a proposed ordinance to increase the salaries of all County elected officials. However, the Commissioners further agreed to delay voting on the merits of the Substitute to a meeting of the Committee to be held later this month. The League of Women Voters of Cook County, both in written and verbal testimony at this meeting had urged this delay in order to provide the public more time to review and provide input on this proposal. (Item 22-2825) Under the Substitute
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Cook County Commissioners Finance And Technology Committees
Joint Meeting on April 25, 2022 The special meeting was held at the urging of Commissioner Sean Morrison to bring the key stakeholders together to get their commitment to work together on getting the 2nd installment tax bills out no later than mid-November 2022. Key were the chair of the Board of Review, the Chief of Staff of the Assessor’s Office, and the Chief Information Office, Bureau of Technology (BOT). The County Clerk’s Chief of Staff and Treasurer also provided comments. Board of Review (BOR): Chair Larry Rogers stated he just received two days ago the remaining 70% of the required assessment information that his office needs to begin the appeal process for the 2021 assessments; that it will take his office 4-5 months at the earliest to process the appeals and get the information to the Clerk’s office to calculate the tax bill; which then goes to the Treasurer for printing, mailing, and collection. Mr. Rogers stated that his office ran largely by paper until 2015 when it converted to a digital appeal processing system [not the Tyler Platform]. He emphasized that he ran a parallel paper system to work out problems before relying solely on the digital platform. The BOR is not on the new Tyler System. Assessor's Office (OA): The Chief of Staff, Sarah Resnick, who stated that she takes full responsibility for steering the input of property assessment data to the new Tyler Platform, stopped the parallel input of underlying data such as square footage to the decades old Mainframe Platform in July of 2021 after finding that the transfer of detailed data was almost impossible between the systems causing many errors and re-inputs. The Mainframe is the platform that the Board of Review has used for decades to obtain the needed information from the Assessor. The Chief of Staff contacted the BOR and the BOT to ask that they all work together to find a solution. A successful interface was developed, but it is the reason for the delay; and it was done without the BOR. In the meantime, the underlying information was already on the Tyler system; and the interface was offered to the BOR in September of 2021. However, it would require training of BOR technicians by the Assessor’s office; and the BOR declined, saying it has to be independent of the Assessor’s office. Bureau of Technology (BOT): Tom Lynch was questioned as to his recommendation to run a parallel system between the new Tyler and the old Mainframe. He said he did make the recommendation. When asked if it was impossible to input the underlying data from Tyler to the Mainframe, he said it would be very difficult but not impossible. He also stated that the BOR was not included in the transition to the Tyler Platform as were all the other Stakeholders because the BOR used a 2015 Platform that was modern. He noted that not all systems can be replaced at the same time and that the best practice is to stagger rollouts. He said the “legacy system” which is the mainframe has to be retired. He also said that the interface is working. Suggestions by Comm. Sean Morrison include: Increase Overtime; increase hearing staff; use retired staff on a contract basis; determine if an estimated tax bill for 2nd installment is possible. The Clerk’s Chief of Staff said that this is not a likely legal option but that he would investigate further. Comm. Daley: Asked Mr. Rogers if the vast majority of bills can go out and the remaining that have been appealed go out later. Answer: No. The BOR needs one finite set of data. He did state that it is a good idea to bring former employees back under contract. However, with more help and more overtime, he does not believe that the five month delay in receiving the data can be made up. Daley also asked the Clerk’s chief of staff to contact the Finance Chief to see what can done to provide loans to small municipal taxing bodies if they are unable to get a bank loan. Comm. Degnan: Encouraged BOR to get off the legacy mainframe platform so that the current issue doesn’t perpetuate. Comm. Lowry: Asked if all three Stakeholders agreed that the 2nd installment tax bills can be out in mid-November. Answer: Yes, it is possible; but no guarantee. The Assessor’s office also stated that if it can get the information back from BOR in time, it can then meet the 2023 deadlines. Comm. Britton: Asked if township assessors and assistant assessors could be trained to help the BOD process appeals. Answer: Would need the same system training as a new hire. Several other Commissioners also commented or asked questions, all of which were duplicates of what is covered above. There were six Public Speakers Representing the Following Organizations: The Chicago Chamber of Commerce Illinois Realtors local Government Affairs Office Western Spring’s Park District Palos Fire Protection Force, Scofield Fire Department Building Owners and Managers Association All were concerned about the delay in mailing the 2021 2nd Installment Tax Bills and its effect on their constituents and vulnerable Cook County homeowners. Observer: Diane Edmundson Cook County Board Finance Committee
Departmental Budget Hearings October 25, 2021, Part Two Public Administrator presented by Louis G. Apostal Proposed 2022 Budget: $1,505,785 2021 Budget: $1,412,029 Proposed 2022 FTEs: 15 2021 FTEs: 15 Presentation Highlights:
Office of the Independent Inspector General presented by IG Patrick Blanchard Proposed 2022 Budget: $1,945,869 2021 Budget: $1,874,663 Proposed 2022 FTEs: 19 2021 FTEs: 19 Presentation Highlights:
Cook County Treasurer presented by Maria Pappas Proposed 2022 Budget: $11,951,584 (decrease of about $36,000) 2021 Budget: $11,987,500 Proposed 2022 FTEs: 72.5 (decrease of 5 FTEs) 2021 FTEs: 77.5 Highlights of Presentation:
Cook County Assessor presented by Fritz Kaegi Proposed 2022 Budget: $33,778,110 2021 Budget: $31,120,615 (2022 includes $1,000,000 allocated from the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) Both years include about $4,605,290 in Special Purpose Funds Proposed 2022 FTEs: 276 2021 FTEs: 276 Highlights of Presentation
Karin Hribar - Observer Cook County Board Finance Committee Mid-year Budget Hearings
July 19, 2021 Presentations by Offices under the President, Public Administrator, Assessor, Secretary to the Board, and Public Defender Highlights from the Presentations Overview:
Public Administrator - Lou Apostol
Assessor - Fritz Kaegi
Secretary to the Board - Matt Deleon
Public Defender - Sharone Mitchell Jr.
Observers - Pris Mims and Cynthia Schilsky Cook County Board of Commissioners - November 19, 2020
Virtual Meeting 10am-1pm Public Speakers - Statements read by the Secretary of the Board
Commissioners and President Toni Preckwinkle honored former Commissioner and current Recorder of Deeds, Ed Moody who is retiring in December. Observer: Nancy Marcus Cook County Board Finance Committee Budget Meeting
Monday, Oct. 26, Morning Session Overview of Proposed Budget: $6.9 B (2021) - $6.2 B (2020) = increase of $0.7 B 21,820 FTEs (2021) – 22,074 FTEs (2020) = decrease of 254 FTEs Offices under the President: $1,222.5 M (2021) - $1,041.4 M (2020) = increase of $181.1 M 1,798 FTEs (2021) – 1,812 FTEs (2020) = decrease of 14 FTEs (FTE = full time equivalent; 1 FTE is equal to 1 employee working a fulltime job) Offices under the President include 6 Bureaus and 34 Departments (most of which are under the Bureaus) which encompass the following: the President’s office and the Justice Advisory Council; the Bureaus of Administration, Asset Management, Economic Development, Finance, Human Resources, and Technology; the County Auditor; the Department of Administrative Hearings; and the Department of Human Rights & Ethics Assessor: $31.12 M (2021) - $29.94 M (2020) = increase of $1.81 M 276 FTEs (2021) – 277 FTEs (2020) = decrease of 1 FTE Highlights from the Overview of the Proposed Budget:
Highlights from the Meeting with the Offices under the President:
Highlights from the Meeting with the Assessor Assessor Fritz Kaegi Identified several key accomplishments in 2020:
Note: slide presentations given at all these meetings are available under “Meeting Details” for each meeting, which is listed on https://cook-county.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx Observer: Priscilla Mims |
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