Cook County Board Finance Committee Budget Hearings
October 25, 2023 - 1pm 

​Cook County Clerk - Karen Yarborough
2024 Request Total:    $76,772,474              2023 Approved:    $65,849,554
2024 Total FTEs:    349                                   2023 FTEs:        351    
Key Items from the Meeting:

• Regarding Revenue generation the Clerk’s office is working on digitizing the records from 1871-1974 to provide access to these records to the public through a Scan on Demand program
• With the termination of Shakman oversight in her office Clerk Yarborough said this will now allow her HR department to do their job.
• The office is piloting a project in Palatine Township for online services to place an order for documents from her office.
• When asked about the integration of the Tyler System in her office she said that it still needs to integrate with their cashier system and she estimates the cost at about $400,000. There has been years of delay with this integration and she indicated that $150,000 was spent on an interface with the mainframe prior to the Tyler system.
• Comm. Morita asked about the consolidation of election results between the County and Chicago - wanting to know if the process for consolidation will be expedited by the March election and the Clerk indicated they hoped that would be the case.

Office of the Independent Inspector General - Interim IIG - Steve Cyronoski
2024 Request Total:    $2,456,335                       2023 Approved:    $2,307,093
2024 Total FTEs:    19                                               2023 FTEs:        19

Key Items from Meeting:

• Mr. Cyronoski indicated that the number of cases the office investigates has increased and he thinks this is probably due to an increased knowledge about the office. He also indicated that 85-91% of their recommendations are adopted.
• Comm. Degnan asked if there should be a fresh look at the way the reports from the office are reviewed by the Board. Instead of being referred to the Finance Litigation Sub-committe (they usually meet in Closed Session) perhaps there should be a committee designated just for review of the reports or they should come to the Finance Committee as a whole and be reviewed in public. Comm. Degnan indicated that the public (in particular the LWVCC) wants to know that the reports are read and there is follow-up on the recommendations. Mr. Cyronoski indicated that the report is a public report and does not need to be discussed in private.
• Comm. Anaya asked why there was not 100% compliance with their recommendations. Mr. Cyronoski indicated that there can be disagreement with their recommendations and that would be indicated in their report. The office of the IIG has no authority to require that a department comply with their recommendations.
• The office is budgeted for 19 positions and at present 16 positions are filled. They are looking to fill an investigator position and the Deputy IIG position is being left open until the new IIG position is filled so they will be able to appoint their own deputy. At that time Mr. Cyronoski will resume his role as Legal Counsel in the office.
• Comm. Morita asked about whether the office went beyond their investigative function to do program review. Mr. Cyronoski indicated that the office served a “good government function” and was not really charged with program review.

Assessor - Fritz Kaegi
2024 Request Total:    $35,848,794        2023 Approved:    $35,000,768
2024 Total FTEs:    296                              2023 FTEs:        286
Key points from the meeting:

• The Assessor said that appeals to his office have declined. The office has done 250 Outreach Events and they will continue with outreach and also continue to expand the number of languages used in these efforts. The office is about to finalize their 5 year strategic plan.
• Comm. Aguilar asked about the timeline for next year’s tax bills and the Assessor said he thought that next year the bills would be on a better timeline. 
• Comm. Anaya asked about the mechanism for keeping track of the various tax incentives granted by the board (6A, 6B, Class 8 etc) and also questioned the effectiveness of the incentives. Assessor Kaegi said that the Assessor role is a ministerial role concerning tax incentives. Granting of a tax incentive begins with the municipalities and once approved at that level the Economic Development Advisory Council (EDAC) verifies that all criteria are met, in particular the job creation criteria. Then the tax incentive is approved by the Board of Commissioners. If a property is still vacant after 2 years the incentive can be withdrawn. Comm. Anaya further said that tax incentives are an issue that needs further discussion at a different time.
• Comm. Trevor asked if the decrease in appeals was for residential and commercial properties and the Assessor said the decrease was more on the residential properties. 
• Comm. Moore wanted to know about the timeline and the funding to get the office off of the mainframe. Assessor Kaegi said that about $150,000 has been allocated for consultants to help get the information transferred from the mainframe into their system and that should be done by April and no more funding should be required.
• Comm. Stamps asked for information about lists that were sent to the commissioners with the names of seniors who had not reapplied for their Senior Freeze exemptions. Kaegi said that these individuals had been contacted by their office but many had still not reapplied. They need to apply every year. He also said that his office is having a Train the Trainer program to instruct people in how to help people get the exemptions they are entitled to.
• Comm. Moore requested that the Assessor explain how Appraised Value and Assessed Value are used within the Assessor’s office. Kaegi said the Appraised Value is the Market Value for a property and is used for purposes other than taxation. Once that value is established the Assessed Value in Cook County is determined as 10% of the Appraised Value for residential properties. For commercial properties the Assessed Value is 25% of the Appraised Value. Location and size are the biggest drivers of determining value and his office makes every effort to watch out for bias to keep from over or under valuation.

Chief Judge (CJ) - Tim Evans
2024 Request Total:    $343,259,173                       2023 Approved:    $329,470,661
2024 FTEs:        3,031                                                  2023 FTEs:        3,020.3

Key points from the meeting:

• Chief Judge Evans stated that an analysis of the Restorative Justice Courts has been completed by his office and the report has been sent to the commissioners. The report indicates that the recidivism rate is much lower for persons going through these courts than those going through the regular court system. 
• Chief Judge Evans also reported on the institution of the no cash bail aspect of the Pre-trial Safety Act. He stated that from September 18 to October 14, 3300 cases had been filed and of that number SAs had petitioned for detention in 476 of the cases. Of that number 232 persons were detained pre-trial. Of those released only 3 persons were arrested again. He says that all is going well at this point but it has only been 1 month.
• The CJ reported what he is doing about the SCRAM situation. This involves a test that can be ordered by a judge that will test for alcohol in a person’s system and keep them from driving if their level is too high. This service was contracted to a company and his office wanted to expand the contract and before that could happen the contract expired. The company has continued to provide the service under the old contract when a judge ordered it for a defendant. This service is paid for by the defendant on a sliding scale payment system and not paid for by the county or the tax payer. The CJ has established a working group to write a report that will indicate how many persons are ordered to use this service and how much money the company is collecting for providing the service. A new RFP may also be forthcoming.
• Update on the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC). Equip for Equality gave a report to the CJ with recommendations for changes that are beginning to be instituted. There is no longer a 7pm bedtime. Programs are provided for the detainees in the evenings. Training in de-escalation procedures will begin in early November. There are 322 vacant positions. A Job Fair was held on Oct. 16 and 400 people attended and 386 applications were received. 35 positions have been filled and he is hoping to have all positions filled by the end of the year.
• The pilot program for DV Orders of Protection during non-business hours that began in September of 2022 has indicated that the service should be provided. The pilot provided for services on weekdays from 9pm-3am and on Saturdays from 1-6pm. During the pilot there were 917 petitions for emergency orders and 699 orders were issued by Judges. The CJ would like to expand it to 24/7 if possible, since the pilot program does seem to indicate a need. 
• Comm. Daley asked if anyone has been detained pre-trial without a request from the SA. The CJ stated that there is no constitutional requirement that a SA file a petition - a judge could make that determination on his own. Daley also asked about the continuances and what is being done about those. The CJ stated that there now is a system in place that will track why cases are being continued and the system is easy to use. Daley indicated that there may need to be a meeting to get more clarity about this issue.
• Comm. Degnan asked about enabling recording in court rooms in addition to court reporters. The CJ said he could support working on this. She also asked about the EMIT System that is the technology system that is supposed to connect the Judge’s order, the Clerk of the Court, and the Sheriff. He indicated he is open to working on the process. She also asked about when he will be able to get off the mainframe. He indicated that they are working to get off by June 2024. 

Capital Budget - Tanya Anthony/ Jennifer Killen/ Tom Lynch/ Elizabeth Granato 
2024 Proposed Total:    $539.1M
    $238.6M for Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for County facilities
    $154.3M for Transportation and Highways Program (THP)
    $146.2M for Capital Equipment Program (CEP) for County departments    

PowerPoint presented outlining all these programs.
Key Point from Questions:Comm. Miller asked Tom Lynch, Bureau of Technology, for clarification on cost and time frame for the various technology projects. He stated the following:

• The Property Project - the Integrated property tax system - including the offices of the Assessor, The Board of Review, the Treasurer and the Clerk dates back to 2014 when Tyler was selected as the system for all the tax offices. The Board of Review had contracted 2 years previously with a different system for the case management of appeals that was to be integrated with Tyler. At the present time the Assessor is fully on Tyler. The Treasurer and the Clerk were supposed to be on by the end of the year but it was decided that it was too risky to do this in the middle of a tax cycle so now all offices have agreed that by the 3rd quarter of 2024 they will all be on Tyler.
• Since 2015 $59.8M has been spent on the Property Project - some in the Operating budget, some in GIS budget, and some in the Capital budget. Projecting for 2024 an additional $13M will be needed. Mr. Lynch indicated that the Tyler contract has not increased but the time frame has definitely been extended and thus the ancillary costs have increased by millions part of which has been to maintain the legacy system (the mainframe). 
• The other Project involves the offices of the Clerk of the Court, The Chief Judge and the States Attorney getting off the mainframe. Each of these offices has a time frame to get off the legacy system during 2024 and their budgets reflect the costs involved. He thinks that all are funded adequately to make this happen and all have agreed to the timeline. He also stated that the Justice Integration Project will be presented at the Technology Committee Meeting of the Board in November 2023.

The meeting was recessed at 7:15pm. Very few commissioners still remained in the room.  

Observer: Cynthia Schilsky

Cook County Board of Directors Committee Meetings
October 17, 2023

Business & Economic Development Committee
The entire meeting was used to present item # 23-3872 - Ordinance Creating Assessment Classification for Industrial or Commercial Community Solar Energy System Installations
Goals: 

• 1)  to lower the barriers of entry for commercial and industrial companies to increase energy to contribute to the community energy grid.  
• 2)  to motivate companies to participate by offering an initial drop in assessments for a 10-year period. Assessments will be reduced to 20% of market value from the normal of 25% for the square footage used for the solar energy panels. 
• 3) to ensure that the energy created is used for off-site consumption. Companies must submit annual proof that the installed solar facilities are actively producing energy for off-site consumption.

The Assessors office worked with Commissioners Gainer and Degnan to create this avenue for creating energy while not penalizing companies by increasing their assessments for the square footage covered by the solar panels.  
Commissioner Degnan stated that "this is a great example of getting [bureaucracy] out of the way" for private business to contribute to the public good.
The meeting was then recessed until Thursday, October 19, 2023 to work on a substitute amendment to the originally introduced ordinance.  On Thursday morning, the committee voted unanimously to adopt the substitute and then adopted the ordinance to be presented to the board for approval.

​Technology Committee

• A representation of the Board of Review stated that about 96% of the development stage and 92% of the overall project to complete the integration with Tyler is completed. Tyler is the system being used by the Assessor's office and other offices involved in producing the twice annual property tax bills to property owners.   It is expected that the entire project will be completed by October 24.  It was mentioned by a commissioner that the report due October 1 comparing the cost of the patch to Tyler vs conversion to Tyler has not yet been received.  No return comment was made.
• Due to holidays, tax bills, etc., the Board of Technology stated that it expects to go live on Tyler in May of 2024. At that time, all property systems will be off the antiquated main frame computer system.  It also wants to extend the contract maintenance services to the main frame thru 2024 with the option to cancel earlier.
• The States Attorney said that its Nexus case management system resides on the mainframe too.  The go live date to transfer off is February 2024.

​Observer:  Diane Edmundson

Cook County Board of Commissioners (CCBC) Meeting
February 9, 2023

Board Action:

• CCBC approved resolution from the Technology and Innovation Committee for Cost Comparison Assessment and Action Plan from Bureau of Technology and Board of Review on Technology Software. This will provide a comparison to calculate cost to County of creating an integrated automation platform technology to transfer data. The written report of cost comparison will describe and prepare an action plan based on the report’s results.  Report is due within 90 days of enactment of resolution. Several Board members commented on the discussion in committee and that members recognized it could be helpful in resolving a long-time issue. Com. Degnan noted that extra time could be provided should Bd of Review require it (23-1174). Approved.
• Cook County Covid-019 Response Financial Report passed to Receive and File.  The report serves as an update on Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), FEMA PA, Emergency Rental Assistance, and American Rescue Plan Act Grant allocations, 3/1/2020-1/20/2023.  Per the Report, the County’s CARES Act allocation is 100% expended with final report delivered to US Treasury last month. (23-1268) 
• Cook County Promise Guaranteed Income Pilot Status Update passed to Receive and File. Potential participants were evaluated and interviewed for eligibility and a lottery was used to select the 3250 persons participating.  Surveys of participants, data collection, and update reports will continue for this 24-month pilot program. (23-0469)
• Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways reported on projects including an intergovernmental agreement with Metra for improvements to Chicago State University Metra station. County will reimburse Metra for its share of construction and construction management costs. Both items referred to the Transportation Committee. (23-1063, 23-1074)

Of Interest:

• Resolution honoring Jesse White was deferred. (23-0992)

Observer - Carolyn Cosention

Cook County Board of Commissioners (CCBC) Committee Meetings 
Feb. 7-8, 2023                

Finance Committee

• Cook County Health: Cook County Comptroller, Lawrence Wilson, reported Dec. 2022 balances. A  net favorable revenue balances of $52 M in General Fund and $49M in Health Fund.  State payments to Health Fund with $206M owed, including Medicaid, state direct and pass-through grants have been competed for 2022. CCH Chief Financial Officer, Pam Cassara, reported a net favorable net balance for expenses and revenues for Dec 2022. ​Receive and File, approved (23-1209).
• Cook County Promise Guaranteed Income Pilot Status Report:  Slide presentation of highlights and discussion with commissioners was led by Dom Tocci, Deputy Bureau Chief, CC Bureau of Economic Development, Pete Subkoviak, Director of Guaranteed Income and Economic Mobility, CC Bur. Of Ec Dev., Sarah Moran GiveDirectly, US Country Director, and Misuzu Schexnider, Program Director for Univ Chgo Inclusive Economy Lab. They represent the main components of this 24-month guaranteed income pilot. It is funded through AARPA. Of the $42.5M total for the county program, $39M goes to participants, $2.5M (8.5%) goes to administration, outreach, and evaluation costs. Prior to this committee meeting, each commissioner met with these groups.
  
• Here are some details from the presentation and discussion: A total of 3,250 households in Cook County are receiving $500 a month for 24 months. A manual review of 12,000 applicants was conducted; a full list of instruments used for the verification process can be provided. 83% of participants live in the suburbs. If their income status improves during this period, they remain in the program.  Application assistance, outreach, and benefits counseling are provided by GiveDirectly throughout the county in multiple languages. There is a control group comprised of applicants who were eligible but not selected to receive funds. Monthly, they conduct a 2-question survey to ensure participants received payments and to check for accuracy of accounts.  Payments began Dec. 2022 through either direct debit or loadable debit accounts.  Working Credit, a national non-profit, provides education on credit for participants and 1-1 credit-building counseling for 1 year, more if requested.  All participants, including those in control group, are eligible for financial counseling.  The data from the pilot is being compiled by the Univ. of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab; they are also processing data from the Chicago pilot. The County’s 2-year collection of data is expected to give more reliable results than the typical 12-month pilots. Commissioners requested that results include information from detailed breakdown of race and ethnicity of participants. Commissioners were also assured that data at the end of the process would be quantitative, not just qualitative. Motion to Receive and file report was approved (23-0548).  Video of this meeting is available.

Environment and Sustainability Committee

• Resolution in Support of Environmental Justice: Resolution affirms CCBC will assess internal policy and procedures to ensure environmental justice, prioritize projects that will help address past harms in communities impacted by environmental injustice, and work with environmental justice leaders and organizations to adopt a Cook County Environmental Policy by the end of 2024.  Motion to accept 23-1092 as substituted. Passed

Technology and Innovation Committee

• Resolution Requesting Cost Comparison Assessment and Action Plan from Bureau of Technology and Board of Review on Technology and Soft Solutions:  This resolution is intended to address replacing the 40 year old mainframe system with an integrated appraisal and tax administration software solution. Resolutions states the report to Commissioners will be due within 90 days of passage of resolution. Officials from Bd of Review, Bureau of Technology, and Assessors Office were present to answer questions from commissioners. The concerns by CCBC had been expressed in the Jan. 2023 meeting. The resolution is intended to provide numbers for the comparison.  Discussion extended over an hour.   Tom Lynch, Bureau of Technology, stated 60 days was adequate to complete their portion of the comparison.   Board of Review Com. Cardenas, incoming Chair, has been in office 2 months. He stated he has held meetings in his district and within the department; he stated he is aware that with technology there are always better ways to work. The Board of Review has 2 IT workers to address operational issues in the department of 150 analysts working on appeals. He stated that IT would not be able to work with new technology and at the same time respond to analysts’ needs, including new employees, and equipment issues that occur as they work with appeals. Com. Rogers from Board of Review ( BoR) stated many times that the timeline was not realistic since tax bills are now being processed. Appeals are being conducted. He stated tax bills will be late this year and that as of Feb. 1, the BoR has received 22 of 38 township assessments.  So late billing will be the result of not receiving all the assessments from Assessor for appeals. Normally, he stated, all assessments would be with BoR by early December. Currently, they are hearing appeals. BoR Com. Steele stated all commissioners were invited to see the draft of the resolution; she apologized if Rogers did not receive a copy of the draft when it was distributed. Scott Smith of Assessor’s Office stated they have met with new commissioners and have a tentative agreement over a calendar for the next round of assessments. He also stated that the BoR had by now (2/8/23) received all the township assessments. Com. Morrisson asked whether BoR would have all the information needed from Assessor’s Office to complete all assessments if it was off the mainframe and interfaced with the system it used.  “Yes” was the answer from the Assessor’s Office. Com Degnan stated multiple times that the intent of the resolution was to shine a light on costs when comparing use of 2 systems vs 1 system. She stated that the CCBC could take a request for more time if a reasonable explanation is provided.  She stated that the CCBC could not force the BoR to join the interfaced system used by 3 departments involved in the process.  Resolution was approved with vote of 6 Aye, 1 Nay, 2 Present. (23-1174)  Video is available.

Carolyn Cosentino, Observer

Cook County Board Committee Meetings
Jan. 24, 25, & 26, 2023

In several of the meetings of the Cook County Board Committees, Commissioners raised the need for more data and identifying up front what the goals and measures should be for determining whether particular programs were worth the expenditures.  For example:

• In the Health & Hospitals Committee, the Public Health Department reported on several campaigns, including those to boost the number of people who have obtained the latest Covid booster shot, and a “Here to Hear You” program with regard to providing mental health services.  Commissioner Miller asked for a report at the next meeting on ways to track the impact of these efforts.
• During that same meeting, Commissioner Miller asked where to look up where health disparities exist in the County.  There is a Health Atlas that is published online by the County, and Commissioner Miller asked for a briefing on this at the next meeting.

 

• In the Finance Committee, there was a long discussion about the extension and increase of a contract with Deloitte Consulting to provide recruiting and other related services for the Bureau of Human Relations.  Commissioners Gainer and Degnen wanted to know how the Bureau will determine the degree to which the various marketing/recruiting strategies are effective so they can determine where to put their money in the future.  
• In a related topic, the same Commissioners, along with Sean Morrison, asked for data as to the time it took from when a department notified it had a need for an employee until the position is filled.  The Commissioners asked that the information include any time that elapses prior to the posting of the job, including any time necessary to create a job description and any time necessary for the Budget Department to approve that the position is authorized under the department’s budget.  Commissioner Gainer explained that having such data is crucial for determining where the process might be speeded up.

 

• In the Technology Committee, Commissioner Degnen asked for a cost comparison assessment to analyze (a) the costs of maintaining two separate systems, including creating an interface between the Board of Review’s system and the County-wide Property Tax System which includes the Assessor’s office now and will encompass the other two offices involved with the property tax system (the Clerk and Treasurer) vs. (b) expanding the County-wide system to include the Board of Review.  This request was formally included as an item on the next day’s Board meeting, where it was referred to the Technology Committee.  (Item 23-1174)

• During the Contract Compliance meeting, the consultants who prepared the Cook County 2022 Disparity Study gave a presentation.  One of their recommendations is that the County develop performance measures for determining the success of the County’s affirmative action program.  Commissioner Miller, Chair of the Committee, said that there would be a subsequent meeting to review the plan developed by the Contract Compliance Department to implement the Disparity Study’s recommendations.

Other Items of Note:

• While the meetings are being held in the Board room, at each meeting there was a motion to authorize some of the committee members to participate remotely.  However, in order to hold the meeting at all, a quorum (i.e. simple majority) of the committee members must be physically present.  This proved to be a problem for the Subcommittee on Workers’ Compensation which had to postponed on Jan. 24, and again at a re-scheduled time on Jan. 25.  The meeting was finally held on Jan. 26 when 3 of the 5 members were present in the Board room.
• At the Finance Committee meeting, the Comptroller reported that the preliminary analysis of the revenues and expenses for the fiscal year ending November 30, 2022 shows favorable balances of $357 Million in the General Fund and $366 Million in the Health Fund.  However, the Comptroller also pointed out that these balances are on a cash basis.  Cook County Health uses the accrual basis, which provides a truer picture of the financial situation at Cook County Health.  
• During the Environment & Sustainability Committee meeting, at which the Environmental Commission’s 2022 Annual Report was received and filed, Commissioner Trevor raised the concern that multi-family buildings in the suburbs are not covered by municipal recycling programs.  Commissioner Miller would like to get a list of municipalities that have recycling programs and those who do not.

Observer:  Priscilla Mims