Cook County Board Begins Departmental Budget Hearings on Proposed 2022 Budget

Cook County Board Finance Committee
Departmental Budget Meetings  
​Oct. 25, 2021, Part 1

The Finance Committee began its week of budget meetings with an Overview of the entire proposed budget for 2022, followed by meetings on the Offices under the President, the Board of Election Commissioners (for the City of Chicago), and the Secretary to the Board (which includes the budgets for all the Commissioners).  Following are some highlights from the meetings and Budget Books.

Budget Overview presented by Cook County Chief Financial Officer Ammar Rizki and Budget Director Annette C.M. Guzman

Proposed 2022 Budget:  $ 8.08 Billion    2021 Budget:  $6.94 Billion
2022 includes $ 409,630,341 allocated from the American Rescue Plan Special Purpose Fund (ARPA)
Proposed 2022 FTEs:  23,466.7        2021 FTEs:  21,876.8
2022 includes 226 FTEs funded by ARPA

The Budget of $8.08 B is composed of expenditures of

• $3.954.8 B for Healthcare
• $1.366.8 B for Public Safety
• $700.7 M for Finance & Administration
• $666.9 M for Capital Projects
• $547.2 M for Annuity & Benefits
• $289.8 M for Debt Payment
• $221.7 M for Economic Development
• $166.1 M for Fixed Charges (also referred to as Administrative Overhead that cannot be charged to any one area of County government; includes such things as utilities costs)
• $129.0 M for Property & Taxation

Source:  p. 4 of Executive Summary in Vol. 1.

The revenues to cover this $8.08 B budget come from

• $3.7 B, mainly from revenues from the State and Federal Government for County Care & Medicare plus Patient Fees
• $968.3 M from Sales Taxes
• $803.3 M from Property Taxes
• $618.7 M from Intergovernmental Revenues (including ARPA)
• $488 M from Other Non-property Taxes (such as cigarette, alcoholic beverage, video gaming)
• $365 M from Grants
• $343 M from Debt Proceeds (e.g., Bonds)
• $275 M from Motor Fuel Tax
• $260 M from Fees for County Services (other than health)
• $106 M from Miscellaneous Revenues
• $67 M from Personal Property Replacement Tax
• $46 M from Other Sources

Source:  p. 5 of Executive Summary in Vol. 1
Some key points made during the Overview:

• NO NEW OR INCREASED TAXES OR FEES ARE PROPOSED.
• FTEs are increasing by 7%
• Annual appropriations have grown by $4.7 B since 2012, or 9.16% compound annual growth.
• Much of that is due to the growth of County Care that has grown from $96.2 M in 2013 to $2.6 B in 2022.
• Core county services have had a compound annual growth rate of 2.4% since 2011, which is in line with inflation.
• There is a separate Special Purposed Fund for ARPA revenues and expenditures.
• The Equity Fund is not funded by ARPA, but revenues from the General Fund.
• Comm. Lowry is interested in directing some of the revenues from taxing Cannabis to the Equity Fund (currently all these revenues going to Public Safety)
• Comm. S. Morrison has asked each official and department to provide details on each new proposed FTE:  whether temporary or permanent, source of funding, and duties.  He is concerned about the large increase in FTEs and the impact on future budgets.
• In response to a question from Comm. Aguilar: 80% of costs are related to personnel, including salaries and benefits, including pension costs. 

Offices under the President presented by Chief of Staff Lanetta Hayes Turner
Includes Office of the President; Justice Advisory Council; the Bureaus of Administration, Finance, Human Resources, Technology, Economic Development, and Asset Management; County Auditor; Administrative Hearings; and Human Rights and Ethics.

Proposed 2022 Budget:  $1.71 B    2021 Budget:  $1.22 B
(not including the Public Defender’s budget, for which there is a separate hearing.  If include the Public Defender’s budget, total would be $1.987 B for 2022)
2022 includes $392 M allocated from the ARPA Special Purpose Fund
Proposed 2022 FTEs:  1,911.7    2021 FTEs:  1,710.3 
(not including positions funded by grants for 2022 and 2021)
2022 includes 163 FTEs funded by ARPA

Some Highlights from the Budget Books and Presentation:

• The Equity Fund is budgeted to have $80 M for this year, which includes carryover from 2021 that was not used.  A task force is vetting proposals for how to utilize the monies throughout the year.  The money is expected to be spent for Infrastructure ($40 M), Justice Initiatives ($20 M), and Economic Development ($20 M).
• Racial Equity Training will be provided to all personnel in the Offices under the President.  
• Chief Information Officer Tom Lynch explained that the goal is to get all offices in the County off of the main frame in the next 3 years before the programmers for the main frame retire. The Office under the President should be off by the 1st quarter of 2022. There is currently a plan in place for all offices except that of the Chief Judge.

Chicago Board of Elections presented by Charles Holiday, Jr., Executive Director
This Board is in charge of elections for the City of Chicago.  Its budget is partially funded by Cook County and partially funded by the City of Chicago.  The Cook County Clerk is in charge of elections for suburban Cook County.
Proposed 2022 Budget:  $23.95 M        2021:  $1.25 M
Proposed 2022 FTEs:  4.0            2021:  4.0

Some Highlights from the Budget Book and Presentation:

• The budget from last year reflects that there were no elections in Chicago.  In 2022, there will be a primary in June and November general election.  2018 is an equivalent year.  This budget is $7 M over that in 2018; the increase reflects the fact that more money is needed to deal with the huge increase in early voting and mail-in ballots:  early voting locations, election judges, postage, printing, processing, etc.  70% of the votes cast in 2020 were through Early Voting and Vote by Mail.
• Hope to eliminate about 500 precincts by merging with precincts that are in the same polling place, subject to Illinois legislation being passed.  Currently there are 2,069 precincts and 1500 polling places.  

Secretary to the Board presented by Interim Secretary Lynne Turner
Proposed 2022 Budget:  $8.75 M        2021 Budget:  $8.65 M
(Includes $1.83 M for Secretary and $6.92 M for the 17 Commissioners)
Proposed 2022 FTEs:  94.8            2021 FTEs:  94.4
(Includes 11 for Secretary and 83.8 for the 17 Commissioners)

Some Highlights from the Budget Book and Presentation:

• Each Commissioner has a total budget of $400,000, except for Commissioner Sims in the 5th District who has a budget of $470,000, and Commissioner Daley in the 11th District who has a budget of $450,000 which includes additional personnel because of the extra work due to being Finance Chair.
• The Office of the Secretary, in addition to providing the administrative services for the Board (including maintaining the official records of the Board) also maintains the County Historic Records Office which is responsible for the preservation, promotion, and publication of the history of Cook County.  Preparation is already underway for the 200th anniversary of the creation of Cook County in 1831.

League Observer:  Priscilla Mims