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

Cook County Board Finance Committee Meetings on the Budget
October 25, 2022

Cook County Health (“CCH”) – Presented by CCH CEO Israel Rocha. Jr.

• Addressing Payroll expenses, particularly for nurses, has been devasting for the System and remains its top priority.  Agency contract rates have declined but still historically high. President Preckwinkle has approved the System's new Retention and Recruitment Plan.
• COVID has led to the wide-spread adoption of telehealth and telemedicine.
•  The System's new Change Institute priorities are cancer, stroke, diabetes, behavioral health and mental health. Food and housing insecurity programs will be added and expanded.
• Provident Hospital - $5 million has been budgeted for early conversations with institutions that are interested in partnering and funding a new Provident Hospital.
• The System has already served close to 2,400 undocumented people aged 42 and up; and the CCH Foundation has supplied needed clothing, diapers, etc. for the newly arrived undocumented persons.

Commissioner Questions:
Miller:  Addressing the issue of the new Change Institute, said that she was pleased to see more focus on "preventive vs reactionary" care, and noted the increase of 44 new positions in this new Department.  She particularly asked for goals and metrics from each of the Institute's funding sources [ARPA, Grants, County] and any other new programs using ARPA and County funding.

CEO Rocha responded to a question about the behavior health goals using ARPA funding stating that there are two big categories:

• External:  The System will create an organization to expand the safety net for the Behavioral Health community and its services to secure in the long term all elements of Behavioral Health needs.  Will use impact funds to do an analysis of the current community safety net.
• Internal:   The System will expand "trauma informed" outpatient therapy and will create a 16-bed inpatient unit and crisis stabilization unit.

Responding to Miller's inquiry and support for more emphasis on equity and inclusion across the System's services, Rocha said that he is hiring a Chief Equity Inclusion Officer, and two Associate Inclusion Officers - one responsible to/for the System and one to/for the Public Health Department.

Next came Miller's question on the Juvenile Justice Care Coordination Program to be funded by ARPA.  Two Care Coordinators will be hired for reentry and transition stabilization.

When asked about the ongoing long-time issue of low patient satisfaction ratings, Rocha noted that the HIV Core Center has a great reputation and rhetorically asked "how can we use its experience?"

Degnan:  Wants the system to communicate more broadly that CCH is a safe home for reproductive health.  Said that a specific brochure is needed focusing on the System's services.  Rocha responded that he would send her the communication tools currently in use.

Anaya:  Responding to Anaya's concern about the length of the hiring process, Rocha said that the System has hired 350 individuals in the last 150 days and that turnover is at its lowest level in 18-20 months.

Several other Commissioners noted that their questions had been covered by previous colleagues and also commended CEO Rocha on his command of the System's needs and his vision for CCH.

Assessor’s Office -– Presented by Assessor Fritz Kaegi

• The biggest news is that the office expects to be found in “substantial compliance” with Shakman by mid-November.
• Assessor Kaegi next noted that the North suburban counties’ reassessment will be completed by the end of the year, and the office is waiting for the Board of Review to be in a position to accept the data.  
• 2023 priorities includes a new implementation phase of the Tyler technology system to ensure an on-time assessment cycle; the office needs to continue to maintain in parallel the old main frame system until the Board of Review transfers to Tyler; and it will implement new tools for tracking exemptions.  Expects March 2023 assessment data transfer to be on time.
• To date in 2022, hired 31 employees to fill vacancies due to retirements - 25% of new hires are customer service positions, and added strategic hires to build capacity in HR and Legal.  The office is not using temporary help; is hiring data science and evaluation majors, and also hiring from real estate schools. 
• Commissioner Gainer wants to work with the Assessor’s office to reset outstanding taxes on scavenger sale properties to zero thereby helping properties to be sold and neighboring properties to maintain their values.  She also wants to work with the FHA to change the rules so that Land Bank developers can get access to the FHA uniform appraisal data base and qualify for FHA loans.     

Carrying over from the meeting with the Assessor earlier, court oversight of the offices of the Clerk of the Circuit Court and the County Clerk under the Shakman cases (which prohibit political considerations regarding most County personnel) was raised during these two meetings.  

• Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez said she has been working closely with the court-appointed administrator, and expects her office to be found in “substantial compliance” with Shakman by November, 2022!  
• Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough criticized Shakman oversight of her office as not being necessary, and she has filed to end such supervision, expecting it to also end in November.  

Commissioner Sean Morrison focused on the failure of some County departments to respond to remedial recommendations, as required by County ordinances, during the meeting with the Inspector General.  
Following are more details from these meetings, along with the one with the Treasurer, who announced that she is expecting to receive the information for the 2nd installment property tax bills by November 11.  If so, she said she would have bills posted on her web site and available for downloading and payment by November 15.  
Treasurer -  Presented by Treasurer Maria Pappas 

• By posting the 2nd installment property tax bills on the Treasurer’s web site (hopefully by Nov. 15), this will facilitate payment prior to the end of 2022 for those wishing to take a deduction for property taxes on their 2022 income tax returns.
• Only 5% of the Treasurer’s budget is financed by taxpayer dollars.
• Says her workforce comes into the office - no working from home.
• Quickly went through her slide presentation, focusing on the many studies published by her office, included the latest one, the Sales in Error, which Comm. Gainer praised.  All of the studies are available on the web site, https://www.cookcountytreasurer.com/. 

Office of the Independent Inspector General -– Presented by Acting IIG Steven Cyranoski

• Responding to Comm. Morrison’s questions, Acting IIG explained that if an investigation results in remedial recommendations, the applicable department has 45 days to respond, with the ability to request 30 more days under County ordinances.  The department does not have to accept the recommendations, and Mr. Cyranoski said that there may be good reasons for not accepting.  In each quarterly report from the IIG, at the end there is a list of cases for which no response has been received.  These quarterly reports are submitted to the Board, which in turn can refer for further consideration by the Litigation Subcommittee.  Comm. Suffredin noted that the League of Women Voters has pointed out these failures to respond.
• When the open slots for the IIG and the Deputy IIG are filled, the office will have 19 FTEs, same as authorized for 2022.
• Over the last 5 years, there has been an 85% increase in number of complaints.  Have been able to handle because of the high quality of the personnel in the office and increased use of technology.
• 85% to 90% of the IIG’s recommendations have been adopted. 
• In response to Comm. Suffredin’s questions, Mr. Cyranowski explained that there are 2 investigators assigned full time pursuant to the intergovernmental agreement to provide inspector general services to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (“MWRD”).  The current agreement ends mid-2023.  The MWRD has gone to Springfield to obtain legislation that would authorize the MWRD to have its own IG in-house.  In anticipation of this happening, the current budget adjustment (called an “appropriation transfer”) has been reduced from $650,000 in 2022 to $250,000 in 2023.  Part of transfer is also due to the work the IG does for the Forest Preserve.

Clerk of the Circuit Court - Presented by Circuit Court Clerk Iris Y. Martinez

• Has hired more than 150 people to fill open spots this past year.  Currently there are 280 entry level union vacancies, many due to 200 promotions.  Cross training is now being provided so clerks can staff Criminal or Civil courtrooms as necessary.
• 2023 budget includes 30 more FTEs so that every court can be staffed to meet the needs of the new SAFE-T Act and the expected increase in the hours when domestic violence orders of protection can be obtained.  A pilot for extended hours is currently running through early Nov.
• Hopes to be fully integrated into the Odyssey system by the end of the year, reducing reliance on the County’s mainframe.
• Has launched a new call center for 200 different languages to make information more readily available.
• Overall, the budget has increased by 2%.
• In response to a question from Comm. Miller, Clerk Martinez said that the court documents can identify the number of continuances, but not the reason.  Comm Miller and Daley emphasized that they need a report on who is requesting continuances in order to understand (and potentially tackle) the issue of defendants being held in the jail for long periods of time.

County Clerk - Presented by Clerk Karen Yarbrough

• To help alleviate the critical need for Election Judges for the Nov. 8 election, the office reached out to retired military and had 2,000 respond.  More judges are still needed for the 1,439 precincts (which need 5 judges each).
• Early voting and vote-by-mail ballots accounted for 40.1% in the June primary.
• Said that Cook County is recognized nationally for its cyber-security for voting.
• Said that the bulk of revenues from this office is from the recording of deeds area.  A new cashiering system should be rolled out in 2023.  There is a help desk now for recordings.
• Land records from 1871-1974 will be digitalized.

Observers:  Diane Edmundson and Priscilla Mims

Cook County Board Finance Committee
Departmental Budget Hearings: Day 2
October 26, 2021

Cook County Public Defender - presented by Sharone Mitchell and staff
Proposed 2022 Budget - $84,102,421                        2021 Budget - $80,839,889
              (Both include General Funds, Special Purpose Funds and Grant Funds)
Proposed 2022 - 750 FTEs                 2021 - 700 FTEs
Presentation by Sharone Mitchell focused on 4 Challenges within the office.
1. Caseloads/Workloads

• Office continues to have caseloads that are too high compared to other PD offices and also according to national standards
• Office handles misdemeanor as well as felony cases
• Adding an additional 50 positions that will include an additional 20 attorney positions

2. Records Maintenance and Retention

• Current system is antiquated. Showed a slide of boxes of files wrapped in plastic that are stored in warehouse and date back to the 1970’s. 
• Legally mandated to maintain records for a certain period of time - ie homicide records need to be kept for 20 years after completion of sentence
• Building a team that will address the current issues and work towards digitization - 7 new positions in budget  

3. Professional Development

• “Nutshell” training provided yearly - 3 days of training on many topics - attorney staff attends every other year
• Have focused on attorney training in the past but would like to address professional development for other employees
• Increasing budget by $50K for professional development and adding one new position

4. Technology

• Technology needs are changing for how office operates not only in maintaining and storing files but also in technology needs at trial and the need for investigators to have laptops etc.
• Funds included in budget request to conduct a technology audit 
• Funds also included in budget request for computer refresh and to accommodate investigation needs - 2 new FTEs included for technology

Questions from Commissioners

• Comm. Anaya asked about the new Immigration Unit. It is not up and running yet as the 2 attorney and 1 case worker positions did not receive qualified applicants and had to be reposted
• Comm Degnan asked about the decrease in grant funding. Mr. Mitchell and staff indicated that 2 grants have been extended and the budget will be revised to show that and also the office has applied for more grants that are not included now but probably will be received. Comm. Degnan also asked about the possibility of state funding for PD offices. Mr. Mitchell said there is a report entitled “Right to Council in Illinois” that he helped with from the Supreme Court of Illinois. He is concerned that if the state gets involved in funding there will be unfunded mandates. He also said the idea of a statewide PD office that would exclude Cook County has been looked into as many PD offices have difficulty with funding. She also asked about the position of Mitigation Specialist (MS). 5 new MS positions are included in the budget. Mr. Mitchell explained that these Specialists help the PD attorneys by investigating a clients background to help with any plea bargains or in sentencing to ensure that clients are treated fairly 
• Comm. Arroyo asked about the percentage of Latino attorneys. Mr. Mitchell stated that it is 4% and they are making efforts to increase that percentage.   

Cook County Clerk - presented by Karen Yarborough
Proposed 2022 Budget - $76,502,087                      2021 Budget - $56,472,352
           (Includes Corporate Funds, Election Fund, Special Purpose Funds, Grant Funds)
2022 includes $8,823,854 allocated from the American Rescue Plan Special Purpose Fund
Proposed 2022 - 348 FTEs          2021 - 350 FTEs

Highlights of Presentation by Clerk Yarborough
Elections

• Election equipment and the voter registration process have been upgraded and modernized.
• Money is included in the budget to continue with this process in particular to deal with the increase in mail-in ballots.
• She hopes to acquire a new touch free e-polling system using American Rescue Plan funds.
• The office is gearing up for the challenges of the pending redistricting.

Recorder Functions

• The e-recording system is now operational for the recording of documents.  
• The 80,000 document backlog present when the Clerk took over the Recorder function has been eliminated.
• In 2020 a new cashiering system was also implemented.

Questions from Commissioners

• Comm. Daley asked about accessibility of polling sites and was assured that accessibility is not a problem for suburban polling sites. 
• By December precinct consolidation should be known once the mapping has been done using new census data. The need for adding any additional languages based on census numbers is yet to be determined. 

Clerk of Circuit Court of Cook County - Presented by Iris Martinez and Staff
Proposed 2022 Budget - $125,285,335                   2021 Budget - $120,480,906
                   (Includes General Funds, Special Purpose Funds and Grants)
2022 budget includes $4,345,794 allocated from the American Rescue Plan SP Fund
Proposed 2022 - 1479 FTEs            2021 Budget - 1386 FTEs
2022 includes 25 FTEs under the American Rescue Plan

Highlights of Presentation by Iris Martinez

• Technology and Transparency have been her focus since she took over the office in December.
• Her office collects funds from the courts and distributes them to various entities. $2.87M has not been allocated to local governments and they hope to have them distributed by the end of 2021.
• The office had 218 vacant positions and they have been working on filling those positions.
• Changing the culture in the office is important and Shakman compliance is a focus. The office is moving towards compliance probably by the 1st quarter of 2022.
• Implementation of the Odyssey system for document storage was halted and is being implemented again after making changes. In July 2021 Domestic Violence Courts started implementation and Civil and Traffic Courts should be implemented by the end of 2021.
• A Call Center for questions about the Court System is being developed that will be able to answer questions in 200 languages. 

Questions from Commissioners

• Comm. Daley asked about filling the vacant positions since other departments have indicated difficulty in filling positions. The HR person stated that 60 new FTEs had onboarded in July and another 40 are in process. They have budgeted for an additional 138. They initiated a very aggressive outreach plan in which they posted 6 different types of positions and received 5000 applications of which 4000 could be processed. 
• Comm. Anaya asked about any concerns with the proposed 24/7 hours of operation for the  Domestic Violence Court. The Clerk’s office is working with the Chief Judge and the advocates to come up with a model that will work and they can staff. 

Board of Review - Commissioners Larry Rogers, Michael Cabonargi, and Tammy Wendt
Proposed 2022 Budget - $15,686,657                      2021 Budget - $14,072,527
2022 budget includes $1,064,256 allocated from the American Rescue Plan SP Fund
Proposed 2022 - 151 FTEs                  2021 Budget - 142 FTEs
2022 includes 9 FTEs under the American Rescue Plan

Highlights of Presentation by Larry Rogers

• The review of assessments by the Board of Review (BoR) depends on the Assessor and that office has not yet made the data available for review from the Chicago reassessments that occurred this year. 
• The BoR office had converted to an online review system in 2015 so they had no difficulty going to a total remote environment in 2021
• The defense efforts of the BoR saved all taxing bodies within Cook County from having to make refunds of $32 M, including $10.4 M just for Cook County government.
• When they get the information from the Assessor they expect to see an increase in appeals from the city and have budgeted for overtime for their staff so they can get the appeals done in a timely way.
• The office continues with its outreach efforts to make taxpayers aware of the appeal process.

After his presentation Comm. Wendt expressed her disagreement with the budget as presented and stated that she was not included in the development of the budget as the other 2 commissioners did not meet in an open meeting and she thought it was a violation of the Open Meetings Act so would not meet with them. She also expressed several other concerns with the operation of the office as well as her feeling that there was not equity in the distribution of staff among the 3 Commissioners who are separately elected and run separate offices - yet have one budget. 

Questions/Comments from the Cook County Board Commissioners

• Comm. Degnan stated she had reached out to the offices of each of the BoR Commissioners with her questions prior to this meeting but had not received response from any of them. She wanted to know why the budget for Professional Development had increased fourfold. Comm. Rogers said that more of their staff needs to be certified as Assessment Officers. She also wanted to know why there seemed to be different sets of information that are used by the Assessor’s office and the BoR. If they had the same information would that not make for fewer appeals. The standard of review is different as the BoR gets more information to determine if an adjustment is necessary. Comm. Degnan further said she also could not tell from their salary distribution chart what positions there were and she was not comfortable having to vote on their budget.
• Comm. Daley suggested that since there was disagreement among the BoR Commissioners about their budget perhaps they needed to meet with the Budget Director to come up with a budget they can agree on. He also stated that perhaps in the future each Commissioner should submit their own budget as the commissioners operate their own offices independently. 
• Comm. Anaya said her office does outreach for the BoR as do many of the other commissioners. She said they had asked before for data and it would be useful to them to know what the data on the numbers of commercial and the number of residential appeals/district as well as the % of appeals that result in a decrease in the assessment. Comm. Rogers said that was a great suggestion and they would try to include that data in their next Annual Report. 

Item of Note:

• Comm. Daley said that he was referring the video of the Board of Review portion of this meeting to both the Inspector General and the Board of Ethics because of the issues raised.  

Observer: Cynthia Schilsky    

Cook County Board Finance Committee Mid Year Budget Hearings
July 20, 2021
Presentations - Cook County State’s Attorney, County Clerk, and Board of Review

Cook County State’s Attorney, Kimberly Fox

• Currently under budget by $4.7 M for 2021.  Has 109 vacancies (50 of which are attorneys) out of the budgeted positions of 1,241.
• Ms. Fox reviewed the office’s progress on the alternative prosecution program, the gun crime strategies unit and how they dealt with the pandemic.  The trial work will increase substantially now that the courts are opening.
• The commissioners’ questions focused on the current crime problems.   Commissioner Deer asked how much do mental health issues contribute.   Ms. Fox said a good proportion of the people arrested are dealing with mental health issues.   She would like to see more local sources for help such as the local mental health clinics that were closed several years ago.   
• Commissioner Aguilar asked about recent reports about repeat offenders being on bond and involved in shootings.   Ms. Fox explained how the bail process works and how it is the judge’s decision.   She said that the elimination of cash bail will help the problem, because many repeat offenders have enough money for bail.   
• Commissioner Degnen asked if the video hearings would continue for gender-based violence hearings.   The victims feel safer in that mode.   Ms. Fox said they were reviewing that.
• Commissioner Kevin Morrison asked about the attrition in the department.   There has been an uptick in retirements and other attrition.   They are getting applicants, but most are recent graduates.   Ms. Fox said they are also working on maintaining a level of expertise by recruiting experienced prosecutors from outside.  Commissioner Daley asked Ms. Fox to let the Commissioners know what they could do to help with HR recruiting and onboarding new staff.
• Commissioner Sims asked what would Ms. Fox wish for in the next budget.   She would like to have a full complement of employees for the criminal court, increased staff in the wrongful conviction unit and civil court, and improve the department’s technology in remote access and integration of data.   She would  like to expand the gun crime unit into the suburbs. It would help her attorneys if the court rooms had more up to date technology.
• Commissioner Sean Morrison asked if the department kept statistics on citizenship of offenders.   They do not.   The department has developed a Data Dashboard to track cases and they have most of the information on the felony cases captured.  The dashboard can be viewed on the office’s website.

Cook County Clerk’s Office, presented by Chief Deputy Clerk Cedric Giles

• Mr. Giles described the work that was done to incorporate the Recorder of Deeds office into the Clerk’s.   When they took over, there was an 800,000-document backlog.  Now there is only a 7 day’s delay in recording documents. The office worked with a third party on indexing.   He also reviewed the work on the spring election and gave statistics on the increase in vote by mail ( 487%) and early voting (20%) from the 2019 election. 
• Commissioner Degnen noted that the Clerk’s office  is above on revenue due to the housing market increase.   A staff person from the Clerk’s finance office said they are below on expenses.

Board of Review, presented by Commissioner Larry Rogers, with Commissioners Michael Cabonargi and Tammy Wendt  

• Currently is under budget by $284,941.
• Over the last 6 months, the BoR has handled 223,000 appeals.  They received appeals between October and December and finished by June 21.   They instituted a digital approval process.   They have BOR staff attend the PTAB (the state agency where tax payers appeal assessments) meetings to object to the further appeals.   They saved local taxing bodies $138 M in refunds as a result in successfully defending the County’s assessments at PTAB.
• The BOR generated $80,000 in revenue from a “Data Subscription Service” provided to high volume users at the BOR. The product is a compiled data package of BOR appeal decisions which allows users to digitally organize their filings and results.
• Commissioner Rogers addressed the reported alleged bribery scheme of a BOR employee.   The employee has been placed on administrative leave and the BoR has contracted with outside counsel to investigate.  Commissioner Rogers and Cabonargi stated that this person was an exception and that most of the BOR employees are hard workers.    Both stated that the employee had not been selected by any commissioner for their  staff.   He had been employed since 1995 and had been cross-trained on the appeals process.
• Commissioner Daley mentioned that the BOR needed to respond to the IG report.

Observed by Kathleen Graffam