Day 3 of Cook County Board Budget Hearings

Cook County Board Finance Committee - Departmental Budget Hearings
Third Day of Budget Hearings - October 19, 2016

Meeting reconvened at 9:15am by Chairman Daley with Comm. Gainer, Suffredin, and Garcia in attendance. There were no slide presentations at this meeting. Some departments provided handouts to the Commissioners but those in the audience were not able to access them at the meeting.

Board of Review(BOR) - No Handout
Presented by - BOR Commissioners Michael Cabonargi, Dan Patlak, and Larry Rogers 
Proposed Budget:
FY17 - $10,904,092 - (includes $1,703,579 in Fixed Cost Transfer)
FY16 -  $8,881,215
Difference - Increase of $2,022,877
Proposed FTE’s: 
​FY17 - 125 
FY16 - 125
No change
Key Information Presented:

• In agreement with President’s Proposed Budget
• 476,000 appeals processed in the past year - the highest number ever for their office
• Have implemented a digital appeals processing system which has helped in the timely processing of appeals to ensure that tax bills go out on time. 89% of appeals filed on line.

Questions/Comments From Commissioners:

• Asked about implementation of Employee Time And Attendance System - BOR stated they have not implemented for daily time keeping due to erratic work schedule of employees that results in accumulation of comp time. They are using it for leave/vacation time. Comm. Gainer stated that the commissioners want feedback on this system as it is being implemented countywide and they need to know if it will work for everyone. 
• Comm. Suffredin asked reason for increase in appeals. BOR Comm. Rogers stated that he thought it was due to increase in residential appeals from Chicago residents. Education efforts have focused on making residential property owners aware of the process so they will appeal with the same regularity as commercial properties do, which he said was on an annual basis.
• Comm. Suffredin asked about cross training of employees with other departments dealing with taxation process - are there any issues with unions? BOR indicated cross training was to ensure that their employees have work to do on a 12 month schedule not only during “appeals season” - did not indicate that there were any problems with unions for this cross training.
• Comm. Gainer and Silvestri asked about having a dedicated staff for a Property Tax Appeals Board (PTAB) operation. BOR stated that last year they saved the county $9m by sending people to defend the county in these appeals. Previously they would just file the necessary paper work and not send anyone to the hearings. BOR indicated that there is about $500m of outstanding liability but that the filings have decreased since the county now sends people to defend the county. Comm. Sylvester indicated that if they need funds to further their efforts they should send a proposal to the board. 

County Assessor - Presented by Joseph Berrios, Cook County Assessor
Proposed Budget
FY17 - $30,247,039 -  (Includes $4,068,842 in Fixed Cost Transfer)
FY16 - $25,139,269
Difference: Increase of $5,107,770
Proposed FTEs
FY17 -  331
FY16 -  342
Difference - Decrease of 33
Key Information Presented:

• Tax Bills went out on time for the 5th straight year
• The Erroneous Exemption Unit brought in $38m. Mr. Berrios stated that this unit pays for itself with the monies it recovers for the county.

Questions/Comments from Commissioners

• When asked about loss of FTE’s, Mr. Berrios stated he had 334 and was losing 4 positions which would not be a problem for carrying out their departments work. No further follow-up to address seeming discrepancy with budget.
• Commissioners commended him for his outreach efforts to educate the public about the assessment process and for his marketing efforts that raise money for the county.

Recorder of Deeds - Presented by Karen Yarborough, Recorder of Deeds
Proposed Budget 
FY17 - $12,732,082 - (Includes $1,236,846 in Fixed Cost Transfer)
FY16 - $12,572,943
Difference - Increase of $150,139
Proposed FTEs 
FY17 - 143 
FY16 - 171
Difference - Decrease of 28 positions (13/Corporate Fund and 15/Special Purpose Funds)
Key Information Presented:

• Revenue generated has increased since 2014.
• Have opened platform for e-recording of deeds.
• Have increased their outreach services and strengthened their Fraud Unit.
• Singled out the Property After Death Program - an education program developed by her office  to inform the public about a new Illinois law that allows property to be passed on after death of the owner without going to probate. 
• Reduced staff through attrition but does not endorse this budget as she feels staff has been cut to a minimum

Questions/Comments from Commissioner

• Comm. Boykin asked if staff cuts would “risk filings”. Ms. Yarborough stated that she was unable to answer that but her staff is very committed and does good work.
• Comm. Sims stated that she hoped the referendum to eliminate the office of the Recorder of Deeds and move those responsibilities to the office of the County Clerk would not pass. She stated that she thought a separate office made it easier to serve the public and thought the recorder did a phenomenal job with the people she has. 
• Comm. Steele asked about a plan for digitizing the historical records in the office and she responded there is no plan as there is no staff to dedicate to such a project. Comm. Steele thought a summer project for employing college students could be developed for such a project.
• Comm. Silvestri asked about the Property Fraud Unit. Ms. Yarborough stated no cuts were being made to that signature program which is one of their non-core functions. They have a very capable staff of investigators that has been doing great work in dealing with fraudulent filings.
• Comm. Gainer asked about staff time spent complying with the “employment plan”. (I think this meant Shakman Compliance) Ms. Yarborough stated “too much time and money” have been spent but did not give any indication of how much longer it might take to come into compliance. 
• Comm. Gainer also thanked her office for help with fraud issues concerning filing of liens on land bank properties.  

Department of Human Rights and Ethics - Presented by Ranjit Hakim, Executive Director
Proposed Budget
FY17 - $942,645 (Includes $136,055 in Fixed Costs Transfer)
FY16- $805,971
Difference - Increase of $136,674
Proposed FTEs
FY17 - 10
FY16 - 10.5
Difference - Decrease of 0.5
Key Information Presented:

• Department charged with supporting 3 boards - Cook County Commission on Human Rights, Cook County Board of Ethics, and the Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues
• With partial automation have been able to increase number of compliance audits and investigations that the Board of Ethics can perform with no staffing increase. Goal moving forward is to respond/resolve all inquiries to the BOE within 2-3 days.
• Commission on Human Rights no longer has a backlog of cases and has reduced the average number of days to handle a claim to 425 days - with a goal for 2017 of handling 80% of cases in less than 400 days.
• Other Goals for 2017 include resuming budgetary, personnel support for the Commission on Women’s Issues for the first time since 2013 and a major update of the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance, and more ethics training for personnel.

Questions/Comments from Commissioners

• Comm. Gainer thanked him for their work on the Earned Sick Time Ordinance and the Conflict of Interest Issue at the Litigation Committee. 

Office of the President
Presented by Brian Hamer, Chief of Staff and Stephen Shaw, Deputy Chief of Staff
Proposed 2017 Budget
FY17 - $2,207,512 - (Includes $184,658 in Fixed Costs Transfer)
FY16 - $1,962,684 - (Includes approximately $90,000 reimbursement from Forest Preserve District that will no longer be netted against expenses in 2017 Budget)
Difference - $244,828
Proposed FTEs
FY17 - 18
​FY16 - 19
Difference - Decrease of 1
Key Information Presented:

• In the past year the President has taken measures to shrink the real estate footprint of the county
• A countywide Time and Attendance System has been implemented, and 10,000 employees are on the system so far.
• A new website was launched.
• Next year efforts will continue in modernizing the IT systems throughout all county offices. 

Justice Advisory Council - Presented by Lanetta Haynes Turner, Executive Director
Proposed 2017 Budget - Public Safety Fund
FY17 - $669,673 (Includes $77,970 in Fixed Costs Transfer)
FY16 - $546,561
Difference - $123,112
Proposed FTEs
FY17 - 7
FY16 - 7
Difference - none
Key Information Presented:

• Budget and FTE count remain steady.
• Committed resources this past year to bond court reform and decreasing jail population.
• Look at Criminal Justice from health and economic standpoint and work towards reforms.
• Policy work and grant administration is what they do.
• Successful in Automatic Transfer Reform - young people being held in Juvenile Court.
• Also successful in ending mandatory 5 year probation for youth resulting in lower case loads for Probation Officers and better use of resources.
• Received $1m grant for looking at data to improve youth outcomes in violence prone neighborhoods - will be focused in Harvey and Chicago Heights.
• Increase in funding for Violence Prevention (up from $1.9m to $4.9m) - focus on employment programs in Austin Community
• Have been rebuilding grants infrastructure - obtaining, monitoring and tracking grants.

Questions/Comments from Commissioners

• Comm. Gainer asked about $1m jobs program - who would they be working with on this? Will be working with Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership but running the program on their own. Money is coming from Revenue increase and to be used to pay youth in a summer jobs program.
• Comm. Gainer also asked about Advisory Board for JTDC. Asked about working with Supt. Dixon from JTDC. Ms. Haynes-Turner stated that it has been challenging working with the new superintendent and the Advisory Board is struggling to determine their purpose and how to move forward. Comm. Gainer stated that the Advisory Board was established to help the youth at the JTDC connect with the larger community and was emphatic that the Advisory Board and the JTDC have to connect so that the issues that led to being under a consent decree do not happen again.

The following commissioners were not in attendance at any time during this meeting: Tobolski, Morrison, Schneider, Goslin, Butler, Moody, Arroyo 
Meeting went into recess for the day at 12noon.

Observer - Cynthia Schilsky