All Board members were present; the meeting began 25 minutes late waiting for President Stroger. A large media presence (with cameras) was there. The main topic of the day was whether the Board would have the votes to override Stroger's veto of the 1% Cook County sales tax repeal voted on May 5th. The meeting was rather contentious with several moments of audience participation.
Stroger began by reading his communication on why he vetoed the repeal of the 1% additional sales tax. His main thrust was that the health and safety of the county would be severely harmed by the cut in sales taxes, warning that hospitals and clinics serving the poor would be closed.
Almost all commissioners had comments to explain their upcoming votes:
Comm. Peraica pointed out that hospitals and clinics would not be closed and that it was up to the Board, not the President to make this decision. He submitted a proposal that showed how to save money without making these cuts.
Comm. Mareno regreted his vote to repeal the 1% sales tax at the last meeting. He said he was caught up in the "passion of the moment."
Comm. Collins "can't believe" the commissioners voted on a repeal at the last meeting when she was absent. She will not vote for or against the override (effectively voting against it), wanting to just "go home for once in peace."
Comm. Murphy spoke in favor of cutting the tax, but not repealing the whole 1%. She said the press needed to do more investigative reporting because lots of programs would be hurt. She seemed a bit confused as she contradicted herself several times during this vote and the next one.
Comm. Claypool denied Stroger's claim that 17% cuts were already made. He indicated it was only 3%; later in the meeting he showed documentation that the cuts have only been 1.9% and "they were in the wrong area--health and police instead of patronage and bureaucracy."
Comm. Steele said if unemployment goes up, the county will have to pay for "it" anyway. He said the swine flu will get worse if clinics are cut and that Cook County only taxes 17 items. Comm. Butler and Beavers basically concurred that health care would suffer.
Comm. Silvestri pointed out that the sales tax should be cut and the new budget be realigned with less money to spend.
Comm. Daley said he would still vote to repeal the 1% sales tax. As far as expenditures, he pointed out that 85% of the budget is personnel and there is no hiring freeze and raises are still being given.
Comm. Maldanado referred to his constituents saying they were against the 1% sales tax. He would vote to override the veto. He proposed an additional $25.00 vehicle tax for all residents of Cook County instead of the sales tax.
Comm. Goslin said trimming and consolidating services is needed as well as cutting personnel to the 22,000 Stroger said he would do when elected.
Comm. Gorman said the additional sales tax hurts businesses because residents go to neighboring counties to shop where the tax rate is much less. She said Cook County unions were willing to pay more for their own benefits in order to keep their jobs.
Comm. Gainer complained about "patronage and a bloated budget" that needed to be taken care of before new taxes are added.
Comm. Sims spoke at length about the need to help the indigent with new revenues. She would eventually like to repeal the 1% sales tax, but have money come from other revenue sources.
Comm. Suffredin questioned Stroger's written communication, saying the Health and Hospital System will probably have a surplus this year due to restructuring of billing and other changes made by the new hospital board. The federal stimulus bill will help the county meet expenses.He stated that the sales tax makes Cook County a symbol of bad government.
In the end, the veto was not overridden (11 votes for override, 4 against, and 2 present). In Cook County, 14 commissioners need to vote yes to override a veto, so the sales tax increase of 1% (for a total of 1.75%) stays for now.
Directly after this, Comm. Gorman proposed a 3/4% cut in the sales tax with the balance to be repealed within 2 years. The vote was 10 for and 7 against this.
President Stroger indicated later he would also veto this bill.
On another note, the Board passed an ordinance amendment sponsored by Comm. Goslin which prohibits the President of the Board from also being a legislative member of the Board. This separates the executive and legislative branches of the Cook County Board. Passed 9 to 7 with 1 absence. This took 3 votes to get passed due to confusion and maneuvering by various board members (for example, Collins wanted to vote yes, but said "for political reasons" she would vote no).
