Cook County Board Holds Mid-Year Budget Hearings

Cook County Board of Commissioners - July 20,2020 ​ 
Mid-Year Budget Hearings

BUREAU OF FINANCE/BUDGET OVERVIEW
Presented by CFO Ammar Rizki and Budget Director Annette Guzman
The General Fund
General Information from the report available on Legistar:
The General Fund was originally projected to end FY2020 with a $219.7M deficit 

• Revenues down$297 million or 15% below the adopted budget
• Expenses also down by $77.5 million or 4% below the adopted budget

However, with corrective actions already being taken, this projected deficit has been reduced to $100.7 M.  Additional corrective actions are being explored.
The outlook for FY2021 includes a General Fund deficit projected at $222 million

• Revenues down $129 million or 7% below FY2020 adopted budget
• Expenses up $92.9M or 5% above FY2020 adopted budget

Health Enterprise Fund
General information from report available on Legistar
The Health Fund was originally projected to end FY2020 with a $61M deficit

• Revenues up $322 million or 11% above the adopted budget
• Expenses up $383 million or 14% above the adopted budget

However, with corrective actions taken (including eliminating 70 positions), the remaining deficit to deal with is $26 M.
The outlook for FY2021 includes a Health Fund deficit of projected at $187 Million

• Revenues of $405 million or 14% above the FY2020 adopted budget
• Expenses of $592 million or 21% above the 2020 adopted budget

OFFICES UNDER THE PRESIDENT
Presented by Lanetta Hayes Turner, Chief of Staff
General Information from report available on Legista:r

• Revenues in 2020 down by 43,463,342.2 (7%) what was budgeted from this office May 2020.
• Expenses in 2020 up by $4,577,223 (7%) 
• Holdback Target of $9,848,904 
• Amount of Holdback Achieved $10,692,975 
• FY2021 Budget Target $143,164,820

Other information: Lessons Learned during COVID:

• Government can function remotely
• COVID-19 has shown the inequities in Cook County that need to be addressed, particularly gun violence
• Sustainable reforms with Criminal Justice system 

No raised question about the budget or reports on Legistar from Commissioners.

COUNTY CLERK, Karen Yarbrough
General information from report available on Legistar:

• Revenue: (County Clerk Fees) down by $334,010 (9%) from what was budgeted as of May 31,2020
• Expenses: Lower by $347,688 (6%)
• 2020 Holdback Target $830,746
• Amount of Holdback Achieved: $545,762
• FY 2021 Corporate Budget Target Revenues $47,918,5000.00
• FY 2021 Corporate Budget Target Expenditures $18,217,841.00

Other information:
Cook county Clerk Karen Yarbrough talked about the accomplishment of the County Clerk’s office during the COVID-19 pandemic. Questions concerning the November Election were asked. Deputy Clerk Edmund Michalowski was there to answer questions concerning:

• Vote by Mail 
• Security of the election
• Sanitizing Polling places

There were no questions asked from Commissioners concerning the Budget or report on Legistar.

OFFICE OF THE RECORDER OF DEEDS  -  Edward Moody
General information from report available on Legistar:

• Revenues: up $1,018,515 (5%)
• Expenditures: down $590,380 (16%)
• Holdback Target: $467,762
• Amount of Holdback Achieved $467,762
• They met their target.

Other information:

• There were no questions asked of the Recorder of Deeds. 
• There was some discussion of the merger of the offices of the Recorder of Deeds and the County Clerk.
• Yarbrough stated that the merger will happen on schedule

TREASURER - Maria Pappas 
General information from report available on Legistar:

• Revenues up by $2.7 million over what budgeted thru May 31.  Collected additional tax sale penalties as a result of the postponement of the Annual Tax Sale due to COVID-19.
• Expenses lower by $56,513.
• Holdback Target of $54,789 met.n

Other information of interest:

• Treasurer required all employees to keep a daily time sheet identifying what they did at home while office shut.  Used this information to determine that 6 employees were not needed, and 12 seasonal employees were laid off. That leaves 60 employees in office, with 24 open positions.  Says not sure at this time how many of these positions may be needed going forward.  Suggested it would be interesting if all County offices required such time sheets.
• Continued increase of people using web site to gain information; noted that web site can be viewed in many different languages. Said that have had 500,000 web site visits this month.
• “Black Houses Matter” program:  effort to remove properties in African American areas from delinquent tax list by doing reach-outs via media outlets (e.g., radio shows) and other means.  By far, the largest number of properties on the list are in African-American areas (Chicago and suburbs):  28,659 out of 40,568 properties for a total of $81.4 million of the $122 million outstanding.  Many of the individual properties, however, have a fairly small delinquency.
• As show above under Revenues, there are significant benefits to the County for delaying the Annual Tax Sale.  In addition, such sales result in other areas of the County becoming involved:  courts, sheriff, state’s attorney, etc.  And the delay provides the people more time to pay delinquencies, so they are helped.
• While there will be no penalties imposed on those who do not pay their tax bills on time this year until Oct. 1, the Treasurer’s office has reached out to the escrow agents (mortgage holders) to make sure they will be paying on time (by Aug. 3) since they have the money from their mortgagees.  Treasurer is confident that this being done and so the County, and all the local governments listed on the tax bills, will have good cash flow, despite the delay in applying penalties for late payments.

ASSESSOR - Fritz Kaegi 
General information from report available on Legistar:

• Revenues down by $13,939 from what budget from this office thru May 31. 
• Expenses lower by $1,610,730.
• Holdback Target of $1,745,832 met.

Other information of interest:

• This year the south suburbs reassessed.  Started sending out reassessments in January and February, and then halted due to COVID.  Used office shut-down to redo assessments to reflect effects of COVID on property values.  This is reflected in assessment that began going out again in May.  But says, whether or not appeal, the assessments sent out in January and February will be redone after closing of appeals process.
• Investments made in technology, hiring key people and training within office, and the legislative change that eliminated the need for seniors to file each year for the senior exemption were critical to the office to being able to continue working effectively during the office shut-down.  
• Last year the reassessments for the northern suburbs shifted the overall assessed value from 50-50 to 60-40 (commercial vs. residential), but after adjustments made by the Board of Review, the values were shifted back toward residential.  Assessor working on a report that will show actual shift back.  
• Last year and so far this year, the number of appeals the Assessor is handling is slightly down.  Assessor noted that this is a major change from past years when the number of appeals were continuing to go up significantly.
• In 2021, reassessment will be of Chicago properties.  This represents 52% of the properties in Cook County!

BOARD OF REVIEW - Michael Cabonargi,Dan Patlak, & Larry Rogers, Jr.
General information from report available on Legistar:

• Revenues down by $343,667 from what budget from this office thru May 31, but most of the revenues from this data subscription fee come at the end of the appeals process so Board of Review expects most of this will be made up.
• Expenses lower by $436,306, but most of the expenses are incurred in the 3rd and 4th quarters of the fiscal year (June through November).
• Holdback Target of $875,014, but so far only $301,179 met.  Have delayed hiring for 5 or 6 open positions, and expect to continue to delay hiring, so that will help meet more of the Holdback Target. 

Other information of interest:

• Said they processed 253,000 appeals (a record) on time so tax bills could go out on time this July.  Key was the online appeals process which enabled work to be done at home by employees.
• Report states that the 2021 budget target will not allow the Board of Review to complete the appeals process on time next year.
• Was not asked about the adjustments the Board of Review made to the reassessments of the northern suburbs. (See the item of interest under the Assessor.)

Nancy Marcus and Priscilla Mims -  Observers