Cook County Treasurer Demonstrates Value of Technology and Offers to Show Others

Cook County Board of Commissioners Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings
October 30, 2017  (afternoon sessions that started at 1 pm)

Recorder of Deeds
Treasurer 
Commissioners absent for all or most of the meetings:  Arroyo, Butler, Fritchey (watching from home), Goslin, Moody
Commissioners present:  Boykin, Daley, Deer, Gainer, Garcia, Moore (arrived 1:50), Morrison, Schneider, Silvestri, Sims, Suffredin (arrived 2:55), Tobolski (there for Treasurer)

Items of Interest:

• Treasurer Maria Pappas provided the Commissioners with a BOOKLET full of information showing the value that has been realized by all the automation projects in her office since 1998 when she was first elected Treasurer:
  • Improved services
  • Fewer employees
  • Reduced Costs 
• In addition, the booklet contains comparisons of 1998 to 2018 of
  • Salaries of grades 11 thru 23 after the “cost of living adjustments (COLAs)” given by the County to employees.  The increase has been 116%.  P. 73.
  • The list of the percentage COLAs actually given.  P. 74
  • The value of fringe benefits:  $7,955 in 1998 and $22,198 in 2018, a 179% increase in the average cost.  (The average salary in her department for 2018 is $67,000 in response to a question by Comm. Schneider.)  The majority of the 2018 benefit costs are for medical (excluding dental) of $12, 526 and for pension of $7,578.
• The Treasurer was making the point that salaries and benefits for Cook County employees have gone up tremendously over the years, which the County Board has approved through its votes.  However, there was no information as to how employees in other governmental entities or in the private sector compare or how the COLAs compare to the increase in the Consumer Price Index.  
  • Comm. Morrison stated that his office has calculated an average COLA of 3% each year since 2000, while the growth in average household income for that period was 2.2%.  His office calculates that if the County had held salary growth to the average nationwide, it would have saved the County $1.22 billion.  
  • Another point the Treasurer made was that by 2022, if salaries and benefits continue to rise as they have, her office, which currently provides the County more revenues than it costs, will no longer have such a surplus.
• Treasurer Pappas also discussed the negatives to the County and property owners resulting from moving the sales of property for unpaid taxes (the “tax sale”) from 13 months after the taxes became past due to 9 months.  The County loses $6 million each month, or $36 million per the Treasurer.  The Treasurer highlighted how many of the tax sales are because of unpaid taxes of less than $1,000.  The Treasurer has done a lot of outreach to notify property owners of the impending sale, and, in 2017 the number of tax sales was the lowest since the automation of the sale 10 years ago.  Comm. Boykin is working on creating a loan program for these property owners who owe so little so they can avoid having their property sold.
  
• Treasurer Pappas said that her office was going to start holding seminars every two weeks for other departments to learn how that office has utilized technology to achieve such positive results.
• Both the Treasurer and the Recorder have more than met the request for a 10% cut (or equivalent through an increase in revenues).
• Upon questioning by Comm. Boykin, Recorder Karen Yarbrough stated that she did not feel merging her human resources (4 employees) or information technology (5 employees) with those of the County would result in much of a savings.  
• Recorder Yarbrough said that she and Clerk Orr have thus far had only 1 meeting about the merger of the Recorder of Deeds and the County Clerk offices in 2020,  but sees no reason why the merger should not be smooth, and she expects that most of it will in effect be done prior to the 2020 date.  However, she questions whether the projected savings of $1 million/year will be realized.
• As a result of a complaint prior to Recorder Yarbrough being elected in 2012, the office is under court oversight to come into compliance with the Shakman case, which prohibits either favoritism or penalties for political reasons.  The Recorder said she hopes the office will be found in compliance, and out from under court oversight, in 2018.

Observer - Priscilla Mims