Legislation and Intergovernmental Relations Committee Meeting
June 10, 2026

Most of the meeting was an update to the Board of Commissioners and the public on the measures that are being undertaken to improve the processes and oversight within the Property Tax System. Comm. Britton requested that each office reporting not rehash the problems that are well known but provide information on how they are addressing the problems that have been previously identified and plagued the system for a long time. He asked that they limit their remarks to 10 minutes so Commissioners would have time for questions. (Agenda Item 26-1230 - Received and Filed)

Summary of presentations and questions:

• Office of the President - Jim Thompson, Director of Property Tax Policy - Stated that the lack of clear authority and lack of collaboration among the several offices involved in the process underlie the structural problems of the system. He provided an outline/timeline of how the Assessor, the Board of Review (BOR), the Illinois Depart of Revenue (IDOR), the County Clerk, and the Treasurer are supposed to work together to determine what the tax should be, to provide for collection of the taxes, and then distribution of the money to the various bodies that are supported by the property taxes. He referred to the reform group that has been meeting with representatives from all the entities. They have been looking to determine changes that can be made. He also said that imposing a new computer system (Tyler) on top of the problems that already existed has been challenging as each entity has integrated the system on a different time line. Meetings with Tyler are now being held daily and work continues to fix the system.
• Assessor - Fritz Kaegi - He stated that each part of the system depends on others doing their work so that deadlines can be met. His office is now sharing methodology on tax rates with the BOR so that is going more smoothly. Once his office receives the information from the BOR (revised assessments and certificates of error - see the presentation from the BOR below) and enters the information into the Tyler system, the Assessor’s office sends information to IDOR. This year his office still had to do manual reconciliation of the data to be sent to IDOR, but next year all data should be in the Tyler system so manual reconciliation will not be required. When asked, he said the process is 1 1/2 to 2 months behind schedule this year. Data was sent to IDOR on June 10 so it can calculate the multiplier and then that information comes back to the Assessor before he can send everything on to the Clerk. The IDOR process usually takes from 7-10 days. Comm. Degnan asked how many problems (defects) remain in the Tyler system for the Assessor’s office. Mr. Kaegi stated that the office is 95% working within the Tyler system. Tom Lynch from the Cook County Department of Technology stated that the Assessor part of Tyler has been working okay - it is the tax administration functionality phase that is still being worked on. 
• Board of Review - William O’Shields, Chief Deputy Commissioner, Commissioners Steele and Cardenas – The BOR does not create an assessment - it reviews appeals of an assessment. The BOR also reviews certificates of error. The BOR is the first transfer of information after the Assessor. The appeal process allows for oral arguments and the decisions are to correct errors in the initial assessment.   The BOR sends the corrected assessments to the Assessor’s office for entry into the property tax system.   Comm. Cardenas stated that they are working to reduce the time frame for reviews and working more closely with the Assessor to align their approach. Comm. Steele stated that the BOR has 3 individual offices. each with their own staff of about 40 persons. Each office needs to hear every appeal. There were no questions from the Commissioners. 
• County Clerk – Chief Deputy Clerk Cedric Giles  - That office deals with tax rates and it is fully using the Tyler system. The office applies the tax rates to the information from the Assessor and that process takes about 16-20 days to complete. That office also manages the redemption payments after the tax sale and this process is still not fully functional on Tyler. 
• Treasurer - David Byrnes, Chief of Staff - Began by reading a letter from Treasurer Maria Pappas. Comm. Britton reminded him not to focus on the past but highlight what changes are being made to make the system work. Mr. Byrnes stated that 2500 tax bills from last year have still not been sent due to data issues in the Tyler system that still has an identified 214 defects (though not all of these are critical). Since those bills have not been sent, the tax income has not been determined and thus cannot be distributed. The 2500 that have not been sent are scattered throughout the County and there are 6-7 defects that are holding them up. Mark Hawkins from Tyler stated that last year the first set of bills was done still on the mainframe computer and the second was sent on Tyler. Part of the problem holding up the bills from last year was that there were inconsistencies between the data in the two systems.  This year everything is being done through Tyler so the data problem should not continue. 
• The latest date for the termination of the mainframe is now July 31, 2026. All offices are off the mainframe except for the Clerk’s office that still uses it for reference. The Assessor started using Tyler 3 years ago according to Tom Lynch (Chief Information Officer, Dept. of Technology). He also stated that all payments to Tyler are based on milestones being met. To maintain the mainframe costs about $7M/year and the hardware is so old it is no longer available and all employees who worked on it are now retired. Comm. Degnan pressed Tom Lynch to estimate the cost for all the problems that have occurred with the tax system and his estimate was about $20M. 

Prior to these presentations,

• Meeting began with Public Speakers that included Priscilla Mims speaking on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Cook County asking the Commissioners to encourage the local election authorities to provide a way for voters to submit their Vote-by-Mail Ballots at their local precincts on election day. In addition, there were 2 other speakers addressing Voting Rights; 8 speakers from entities that have not received their tax distributions for the year and asking that the tax system be fixed; and 4 other speakers making general comments. 
• An amendment to the ordinance about the process for filling vaccines of some of the separately elected County Offices was approved by the committee without comment. (26-1414) 
• A resolution calling for a hearing on Voting Rights was not discussed. (26-1409)

Observer:  Cynthia Schilsky

Cook County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee Meeting
October 30, 2025

Treasurer – Maria Pappas 
Proposed 2026 Budget $18,447,000                    Proposed 2026 Positions           78
Actual 2025 Budget       $17,708,000                    Actual 2025 Approved Positions     78
     Difference                 + $  739,000                    Difference                                         0 

Treasurer Pappas presented more than 70 pages of information of what her department is doing and achieving including:

• 94% of the 2026 budget revenue will come from fees. Only 3.7% is funded by taxpayers
• In 1998 the office had 250 employees versus the 78 today and budgeted for 2026
• Black and Latino Housing Matters direct outreach assistance has become a priority 
• To date, 15 published reports on property tax related topics including:  “How wealthy investors are making millions exploiting IL property tax law” and “a broken property tax appeals system”
• The annual tax sale auction number of days has been reduced from 20 to 4 days with 241,597 properties sold since 2008
• Released a 2025 study showing that homeowners in the highest-income areas appealed assessments 46% while the lowest income (primarily blacks and Latinos) 11% 
• The website can be accessed in 248 languages and certain brochures are available in 27
• Next Study is going to address county-wide TIF’s

Treasurer Pappas raised the following concerns:

• The need to extend the tax bill auction until the U.S. Supreme Court case is decided
• She doesn’t know when the Fall 2025 tax bills will be “clean enough” to go out 
• Her total lack of confidence in the new Property Tax System under the auspices of the Tyler company and the Assessor’s failure to run parallel systems while the new system was being implemented.  She gave many examples of problems with the information provided by Tyler from the new system during testing and said she will not release inaccurate tax bills

Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County – Mariyana Spyropoulos
Prosed 2026 Budget $122,128,000    Proposed 2026 Positions                1,405
Actual 2025 Budget   $102,419,000    Actual 2025 Approved Positions     1,422
Difference                +$  19,709,000         Difference                                           (17)

Circuit Court Clerk Spyropoulos began her presentation with the office’s accomplishments since taking office after the Nov. 2024 election:

• Made strides with increasing transparency and modernizing her office by developing a public dashboard showing the cases but not the details of the cases which is available via an on-line search by case.  Also identifying weak spots and fixing them. (no details given)
• Rewrote the employee handbook including ethical standards
• Hired a new ethics officer
• Provides instant website translation in over 50 languages
• Waived fines and fees during amnesty week
• Working to ensure accurate and complete court records-ideally, by the end of the day
• 400 courtroom clerks retrained
• Brought the Clerk’s office to every corner of the county (all courtrooms)
• Working on an employee culture shift, not just a data shift

Clerk Spyropoulos met with the incoming Chief Judge to discuss her highest priorities including:

• Improving warrant technology
• Getting all Judges on board with new technology
• Developing a Strategic Plan
• Improving Courtroom Technology
• Training employees

Note:  There are 102 law enforcement agencies in Cook County that can initiate citations (tickets) and some still use paper.  By December the Clerk’s office should be able to accept all tickets in its system.
Commissioner Questions:  

• Comm.Degnan asked for a list of the clerk’s State Legislative Priorities:  Answer: Need a will depository
• Comm. Anaya:  Goal of # of clerks in courtrooms:  Ans:  Ideally, 1 per courtroom except in domestic violence and criminal courtrooms – 2 is ideal
• Comm. Vasquez: When asked about the time it takes to get paperwork to the Sheriff to release or detain an individual:  Ans:  the Sheriff needs a paper copy which is transmitted immediately via the “courtroom basket”.  However, the Sheriff’s deputy is responsible for getting the emit to the Sheriff’s office. 

Cook County Clerk – Monica Gordon
Proposed 2026 Budget:   $80,108,000       Proposed 2026 Positions                344
Actual 2025 Budget:         $73,441,000       Actual 2025 Approved Positions     349
Difference                        +$ 6,667,000                                        (5)

Clerk Gordon started by sharing priorities:

• Safeguarding elections including physical and cyber security
• Service to the public including outreach events
• Modernizing, streamlining, and more transparency
• For 2026 election: new dashboard, enhanced GIS tracking, security and logistics, campaign for early voting in light of Federal intimidation.  Can provide information by neighborhood of who hasn’t voted and who voted early.
• Provide automated smart box drop off which will go to every early vote site by November and in 6 Court Houses for the March 2026 Primary.  Note:  the new boxes will have the ability for fire suppression. 
• Expanding the piloted “appointment system” to obtain records now in Markam courthouse to other locations to save wait times and long lines
• Youth voter outreach and education - 25 Suburban high schools are being recruited to be a 1-day early voting site with student election judges.  
• Projects mail-in ballots will expand from 400,000 in the last two elections to 600,000 for November 2026. Now able to use non-profit postal rates because the Postal Service is required to send ballots priority mail.  Will save millions of dollars on postage

Regarding the new Property Tax System being spearheaded by the Tyler company:

• The office has found 47 defects with the new system of which 9 are critical, and 6 are major.  The Clerk gave 20 years of tax history to Tyler to help them with validation. The data dictionary has a lot of coding errors that affect the correct transfer of data.
• The entire staff is trained and being trained on the system
• Asked by Commission Trevor if it is possible to go into the old system – Ans:  No for Treasurer and Assessor offices.  Yes for Clerk, but would have to transfer the data.
• Comm. Vasquez said that there needs to be a clear understanding of property tax issues if communities of color are ever able to get a chance to latch onto the American Dream.

Other Commissioner Questions:

• Comm. Degnan asked for advance policy planning on how to handle Federal presence at polling sites.  While giving the answer, the Clerk’s staff said that there is a decrease from $400 M to $15 M from the current administration for federal election needs, including cyber security.
• Comm. Britton wants the pilot program currently only in Palatine that provides a portal to access vital records to be expanded.
• Comm. Scott wants to push for high schools to be more engaged and offered to help

Observer:  Diane Edmundson                                                        

Cook County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee
Tuesday, July 29, 2025, Afternoon

Cook County Health (“CCH”)
Appearing for CCH:  Pam Cassara (Chief Financial Officer), Craig Williams (Chief Operating Officer), and Robert Reiter (Member of the Board and Finance Committee Chair)
Presentation by Ms. Cassara:

• Known cuts in funding/patient care reimbursement:  An estimated $111 M yearly loss due to Illinois ending the Illinois Health Benefits for Immigrant Adult Program as of July 1, 2025, with 8,000 CCH patients losing that coverage.  Unless Congress takes action, there will be a $120 M loss due to the Federal Disproportionate Share Hospital (“DSH”) funding slated to be cut as of October 1, 2025.  
• Based on the recently passed Federal Budget Bill, effective on January 1, 2027, Medicaid work requirements to be implemented, resulting 10% of individuals losing Medicaid coverage and an estimated reduction of reimbursement to CCH of $88 M each year.  Medicaid eligibility redeterminations are also to be changed from yearly to every 6 months.  The result will be loss of coverage for an estimated 5-12% of individuals, though they may be eligible to re-enroll.  That could result in a $50 M reduction in reimbursements to CCH.
• Compounding effects of all these reductions are (1) more uninsured patients treated by CCH, (2) more cuts to other social service programs that negatively impact community health, leading to (3) greater demand for care at CCH, (4) access to care as other safety nets reduce service or close, and (5) more charity care costs at CCH.
• Earlier this year, CCH projected that it would have a budget gap of almost $120 M for 2025.  CCH then took action and has reduced the gap to a little over $8 M.
• There has been a decline in use of workers from agencies at CCH.  At the beginning of FY2025 there were 1,380 positions filled with agency workers.  That has been reduced by about 1/3 to 968.  With new initiatives, hope to reduce by another 1/3, which the COO explained is likely the lowest can reasonably go.  One of the big successes is converting agency employees to CCH employees,

Almost all the Commissioners had questions related to understanding a contract with Guidehouse, which contract is currently the subject of a labor grievance and an upcoming arbitration hearing. After a number of questions and different responses, this observer’s understanding is

• The contract is to provide consulting services and actual workers for billing and collecting from entities providing coverage for patients who have received CCH services.  There are about 287 workers under the contract, with 140 of them doing entry level work in coding and related services.  Of these, 72 are the subject of the grievance by the union which says that they should be union jobs.  
• The complications for replacing the 140 with CCH employees include the specialized knowledge/training needed for proper coding to be able to collect on bills and that the 72 coders are located outside the U.S., which means that they cannot easily train their replacements.  
• CCH management said that even if all the workers provided by Guidehouse were to be replaced, there would still need to be some of the management consulting services under this or a new contract with another entity because of the expertise required that keeps changing. In fact, the current contract is coming to its end and an RFP is out for bid.
• CCH management also said that they are in the process of going through all their contracts to see if there are other positions that could be otherwise covered by the union contracts.  At this point, they are not sure that Guidehouse is the only instance,

Other information provided in response to Commissioner questions:

• There are 10 to 15% of appointments that are no-shows all across the system, but this is nothing new.  There has been an 80% reduction in new arrivals (immigrants), which resulted in a reduction of 37,000 appointments with the closing of Belmont-Cragin for that service, but overall the total appointments across the system is only a reduction of 6,000.  So thus far, there does not appear to be a chilling effect on people coming for service.  Mandatory staff training has been done for all employees to know what to do if ICE agents come onto CCH facilities. (Comm. Anaya and Degnen questions)
• CCH works hard to make sure there is sufficient staffing across all facilities.  Absences and unfilled positions are often staffed by agencies, but the process for filling staffing needs has been changed to include the Bureau of Human Resources to ensure that departments do not automatically call for agency workers without appropriate review.
• There are 19 interpreters on staff that are deployed across the system as needed, but in addition, a number of staff people are bi-lingual and there are separate job classifications for that.  In addition, there are translation services provided through hand-held devices.   (Comm .Anaya question.)
• Comm. Degnen asked if there was a tech solution to help with Medicaid redeterminations.  The COO explained that redeterminations are done on the State level in accordance with Federal requirements.  CCH can assist people in complying, but not change the way they need to apply.
• Comm. Stamps asked how CCH was ensuring that equitable care is provided across Cook County and no “health deserts” exist?  The response was that care is not being cut anywhere; the concern is that there will be a large increase in uncompensated care as a result of Federal and State actions.  The costs for that care would have to be covered by Cook County and its taxpayers.

County Clerk- Monica Gordon
Clerk Gordon’s presentation:

• Ran a successful 2025 Consolidated Election in April: results posted within 2 hours of polls closed, with all precincts opening on time.
• Implementing a new election management system.
• Installed the first “Smart Drop Box” for mail-in ballots at the headquarters at 69 W. Washington that will allow voters to track the processing of their ballots. Will expand to other locations.
• Implementing a new Clerk Recording System that was totally built in house, saving approximately $7 M.  Includes a mail-tracking system.
• Implemented a new queue system for Vital Records with ability to make appointments and also get texts that your place “in line” is approaching.  Has also reallocated resources to help. As a result, the long lines waiting to access Vital Records should be gone.
• The process for implementing the new Integrated Property Tax System being developed by Tyler Technologies has been challenging.  Significant problems, especially with the tax redemption services, has caused the Clerk to create a manual system until the new system is operational. 

Commissioner questions and responses:

• Comm. Lowry and Stamps:  how do you get more people voting, especially young people?  One new pilot program will have early voting sites at 14 high schools run by student election judges for a few days prior to election. Clerk is adding 2 new early voting sites in Bridgeville and Countryside.  Clerk also wants to do more education of what government does at local levels so people understand why their votes matter to their daily lives.
• Comm. Anaya:  Why the additional overtime this year?  Due to transition to Real I.D. which resulted in a huge demand for birth certificates.  Clerk had employees doing other jobs help with that, with those employees then working at night or on weekends to do their normal work.  Do not expect that in 2026.
• Comm. Stamps and McCaskill:  Clerk clarified that those incarcerated after being convicted are not eligible to vote.  Upon release, the State is supposed to be providing a packet of information that includes that they can now register to vote in Illinois. Those in Cook County jail awaiting trial are able to vote and the Clerk works with the Sheriff to both register detainees to vote and provide early voting.

​Observer:  Priscilla Mims

Cook County Board Finance Committee Mid-Year Budget Hearings
​July 30, 2024

9:30 am Cook County Treasurer - Maria Pappas and staff
Highlights:

• 70% of all tax bills have been paid as of today with a due date of Aug. 1
• Each cycle about 200,000 pins are not paid on time
• Overall there is a 98% collection rate countywide 
• There are those pins that are chronically delinquent - many are vacant land - an example was given that Ford Heights has 1400 pins that have not paid in 30 years
• The tax system needs to be changed and she has a Policy Group that is working with Springfield to see what changes can be made.
• Her office has done several studies that can be accessed on their website that are about the problems with the present tax structure. She encouraged everyone to read her studies.
• Many taxpayers do not understand the system or the exemptions. She has a Refund Project that will refund about 10,000 individuals this year. 
• Interest on late payments has been reduced from 18% to 9% (she took credit for this) and now has implemented a payment plan process for those who cannot pay all at once. 
• The office does outreach to all communities and has information available in a multitude of languages. 
• At the tax sale approximately 54,000 pins are offered and about 7,000 are actually sold. Most of those will end up being redeemed. 
• Setting up an AI unit that she hopes will be used to analyze date. Needs to assemble a team that will be able to mine the data

10am Cook County Sheriff - Tom Dart and staff
Highlights:

• Slowed civilian hiring to make budget
• Taking away more guns from those with revoked FOID cards.
• Doesn’t like to ticket for vehicle equipment problems. Likes to work with owners to repair the vehicles instead.
• 80% of inmates in some type of program. EX. Dog training program helps with aggression control. Agribusiness program for learning about a business. 
• Comm. Britton asked about dealing with Mental Health (MH) issues. Sheriff stated that about 40% of inmates have MH issues. Cermak deals with those who have severe issues but they didn’t have the capacity to deal with everyone so he started his own program. Talked about a possible day program at the Boot Camp for those with low level MH issues but concerns with funding and not sure if this is continuing. 
• Comm. Britton also asked about why with the jail population down there has not been a reduction in the budget for salaries - fewer personnel needed. Sheriff stated that they are still short staffed (240 positions open) and the reason the budget is not down is because of the salary increases approved by the CC Board.
• Comm. Anaya asked about licensure of those on staff working with the MI and about insurance coverage for services rendered. Sheriff stated that staff was in appropriate roles and that while services may be covered by Medicaid the sheriff does not have the ability to bill. All billing is done by Cermak. 
• Anaya also asked about Electronic Monitoring. Sheriff state that there are about 1400 now on his EM program. The number has been slowing decreasing. Any violations due to a change in the law now go to a judge who makes a determination but the judges “do not violate very many”. 
• Comm. Quezada had questions about the Co-Responder model for MH calls and questioned the Sheriff’s Treatment Response Teams (TRT) for MH calls. The Sheriff stated that getting trained professionals to respond to calls with officers proved to be too expensive so their teams use tablets that can connect someone in crisis to a MH professional. The program has resulted in a decrease in calls from some households. The sheriff also said he is tired of hearing about programs that are all talk and no action - he wants to get the right people to the door and thinks they are doing that pretty well.
• Quezada also asked about the number of inmates housed elsewhere and the cost to the county. The Sheriff stated that there are 27 inmates in other jails right now - not for capacity reasons but for safety reasons - and there is about $500,000 budget for that with about $200,000 spent to date. 
• Comm. Stamps raised the concern that the facility is not conducive to rehab for young people and wanted to know if they do research on best practices and how do they track success. Sheriff Dart said he is always looking for new ideas and success is measured by the number that do not return and the number that continue after release with the services they get connected with while in his custody. She also suggested that he consider an apprentice program with Chicago Public Schools to encourage employment at the Jail and that could help with the employment situation. Dart liked that idea. 
• There were more questions about billing for services, MH treatment for jail personnel as well as for the inmates, technology updates and the new helicopter. Sheriff said he would provide metrics on the helicopter use and the ongoing cost of housing and maintaining the helicopter. 

12:17pm Cook County Clerk - Cedric Giles and staff
Highlights:

• Now have a GPS tracking system for all election equipment in November
• New voter check-in system for November that will allow voters to update their signatures
• Sample ballots will be posted on their website
• The Recording Division has a new cashier system and they are in the process of digitalizing all records from 1871-1974.
• Commissioners were excited about the Pilot Program of partnering with the township offices for access to records of the Clerks office. Trial is running in Palatine and it may expand although no plans as of now. Also questions about using the City-Key card as an ID which at present is not okay. 

1:09 Cook County Health - Pamela Cassara, CFO, and staff
Highlights:

• CCH is presently in a favorable financial position
• 25% of the ARPA funds that CCH were allocated have been distributed and are on track to have all the funds allocated by the end of the year
• Comm. Trevor asked if CCH had the capacity to take on new patients with the present staffing shortages. Hiring is a top priority with nursing at the top of the list.
• Reproductive Health Issues - At Stroger the nursery is being removed so that they can increase capacity since newborns are now in the rooms with their moms and the nursery is no longer needed. 
• Migrant Health Services - fluctuating need as the numbers change. Can ramp up rapidly if necessary. Are providing health assessments and immunizations. 
• New outpatient facility will be opening in Bronzeville that will include Behavioral Health services.
• Comm. Stamps asked about the marketing of CCH services so that the communities know about where clinics are and what services are available. Stated that some facilities need to be upgraded (Austin Clinic). Also asked about relationship with nursing programs and asked why there was not a “direct hire” program with local high schools and colleges. CCH indicated that there is is a strong connection with the Malcolm X College nursing program. 
• Touted “My Birthday Health Program” that promotes early detection screenings for prostate and breast cancer.

3:31pm - Board of Review - Commissioners Steele, Rogers, and Cardenas
Highlights:

• 2023 Tax bills went out on time this year
• IT has been upgraded and a patch to the mainframe is no longer needed.
• Processed 246,000 appeals (some include multiple pin numbers) with a 46.9% decrease in their assessment.
• 45,000 PTAB cases covered
• Have open positions and recruiting is a challenge - hiring process is a long process.
• Comm. Cardenas emphasized that the mission of Board of Review is to correct assessments - focus primarily on residential properties - not their fault that taxes are increasing.
• Comm. Degnan wanted to know about having separate budgets for each of the Commissioners office which led to confusing discussion of how the BOR allocates their finances and other resources. Per the Budget Director in 2025 budgets will be separated for non-personnel budgets. 
• Comm. Anaya asked about the outreach process to let people know that there is an appeal process and how to do it. BOR says they are doing outreach and asked the CC Commissioners to help with the outreach. 
• Dispute over the assessing, appeal and tax process is ongoing and not new. President’s office is doing a study to determine the best process according to Comm. Steele. 
• A lot of concern expressed over the amount of OT and what that does relate to. Is it the type of work or the number of appeals or something else. Comm. Britton said they need to know so that they can allocate resources appropriately. 
• Comm. Britton also wants to know why there is such a discrepancy in the number of appeals that come from various areas in Cook County - stated that he sees this as an equity issue. Further expressed desire that all involved (Assessor, BOR, and anyone else necessary) get together and work out all these data, communication, equipment etc. issues that seem to be causing a lot of contention. 
• Comm. Kevin Morrison reviewed all BOR minutes for past few years and asked that the BOR commissioners figure out how to get along. 
• There is now a process for pre-filing an appeal so appeals can now be filed anytime and anywhere in Cook County. Comm. Stamps asked for clarification and how this is being communicated to the residents of Cook County. BOR says they don’t have a communications budget so the efforts are minimal.
• Comm. Rogers says there have to be concerted efforts to get the numbers right in the beginning so there is less need to appeal. Comm. Steele said the appeal rate in Cook County is 33%.

Observer: Cynthia Schilsky

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 Finance Committee – Mid-Year  Budget Hearings
July 25, 2023 - Afternoon Meetings

Inspector General – Steven Cyranoski, Interim IG.  
$2.3 million Preliminary 2024 budget

• At midterm, 15% below 2023 budget.  Year-end projection:  Under Budget
• Budgeted for 19 FTE’s.  Currently: 3 vacancies [IG, Deputy IG, Investigator]
• No commissioner questions

Public Administrator – Louis Apostal.   $1.7 million self-funded 2024

• 738 investigations to find rightful inheritance ownership
• 70 properties under management
• 15 full-time staff – unionized office.  5 outside attorneys
• 2024 budget will increase by $137,000 – primarily increased compensation costs

Cook County Clerk – Karen Yarborough.   $20.6 million Preliminary 2024 budget

• Chief Election Officer and responsible for maintaining and providing vital records
• No longer under Shakman and received several compliments for achievement
• Increased vacancies of between 25-30 due to retirement and termination
• Elections:  Additional language ballots will be offered along with information sheets in that language.
• Commissioner Aquilar asked why a pension deduction was taken out of Election Judges checks. Ans:  there is a glitch in the system which is being addressed.  
• Availability of Election Judges was a question:  Ans:  The shortfall has been filled by veterans, community college students that can earn a credit for taking a course on being an election judge, civics, and cyber security.
• Question:  Security of elections and voting by mail.  Ans:  Election ballot drop boxes are located at early voting sites and are monitored.

Board of Review [BOR] – Cardenas, Steele, Rogers.  
$18 million Preliminary 2024 budget

• Currently, analysts are working 20 hours mandatory overtime to get appeals processed and sent to the next office for mailing out the 2022 tax bills which are already late.
• The BOR asked for money to bring each of the 3 Districts to 50 analysts.  Currently a total of 105 analysts.  Daley asked if granted, could the Board guarantee that the tax bills will go out on time.  Ans:  No as there are too many other offices involved in the process.  Said it is anticipating 400,000 appeals in 2024.  The previous analyst ratio was 1-1200 appeals.  Now 1-1600 appeals.
• Steele, who has 17 years in the Assessment Industry including the CC Assessor’s office, noted that the Assessor looks at properties in comparable groups while the BOR reviews each property individually.  
• Steele published a BOR report for 2022 and is in the process of working on a Standards Manual.
• February’s request for a cost comparison between switching to or fully integrating with the Tyler system should be ready in late August.  Cardenas noted that the BOR has just two IT employees.
• Cardenas said that transparency is at the front of the BOR’s mission, and that it has already reduced the appeal time by 6 weeks.  He also said the website has been improved as have FOIA responses

Land Bank – Jessica Caffrey, Executive Director.  Primarily self-funded
Ms. Caffrey is relatively new to the Land Bank having worked for the County in previous roles including coordinating the development of the Old Stroger Hospital and the building of the Cook County Health’s Administrative Building on Polk.

• The Land Bank’s goal is to “create the market” by acquiring 4-5 houses per block in a blighted area which can change the entire block and market
• It acquires vacant, available property through tax sales and other means
• 96% of all its properties are resold to homeowners
• $9.8 million in real estate value has been created in Inglewood
• Created $2.5 million in revenues as of May 1, 2023
• Reduced aged inventory which is property that is on the books over two years
• Staff:  13 positions including 3 vacancies.

​Observer:  Diane Edmundson