Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC)-- Cook County (CC) is paying other jurisdictions (Du Page and Lake Counties) to take juveniles who have gang problems or assaulting staff problems, etc. in JTDC . Parents are being paid $150.00 (cab fare) to visit their kids (in other counties) weekly. CC pays other counties $110.00 per day to house these juveniles; it costs CC $400.00-$500.00 per day to house the kids. There was questioning on why the big difference in cost. This should be answered at the budget hearings.
CC is also paying private contractors to do security and cleaning at JTDC--why aren't county employees doing this? Possible reason--140 of 600 employees at JTDC are on FMLA (leave). CC Bd. spent $1 million on a fingerprint security system, which is not operating as it should; so up to four security people at a time are hand-writing people into the facility.Shakman Decree--This long-lasting court order (from 1994) for county elected offices (among them President's Office, Forest Preserve District, Sheriff's Department) to have compliance administrators overseeing hiring and promotion practices due to patronage is costing the county millions of dollars each year. Comm. Sims again requested that funds for a desk audit be done to work towards a release from this decree. Comm. Collins again requested that only one compliance administrator cover all four offices to save money (not possible under the court orders).
Worker's Compensation Claims--Since January of this fiscal year, $6,500,000.00 has been spent on employee injury claims. Comm. Peraica asked if employees are being monitored on these injury claims (no answer given). Comm. Gainer asked if employees are tracked for traffic accidents (yes). She also asked if Cook County is negotiating Medicare/Medicaid rates to county hospitals for treating inmates (county is "working on it").
Revenue Report highlights--the Health and Hospital Systems (HHS) is $56 million ahead of budget due to good practices incorporated in the past year, especially on collecting patient fees. The total for all home rule taxes is down $126 million this year due to a lesser amount of sales tax (down $46 million), cigarette taxes, motor fuel, etc. Comm. Moreno is against lowering the sales tax because the county would be "$400 million in the hole." About $46 million of the sales taxes goes to HHS, so some commissioners said health services of the county would not suffer if a decrease in sales tax occurred.
On-line Check Registry status--this proposal by Comm. Peraica is in progress according to the Chief Information Officer, Antonio Hylton, and will be completed within 30 days after getting approval from the States Attorney's Office. This is intended as a means of greater transparency for citizens/taxpayers and has been delayed a few months already.
Property Taxes--Due to the very late issuance of property tax bills, a resolution was passed forming a committee to investigate the whole property tax procedure. Too many disparate units in too many elected official offices have input, which complicates the process and has resulted in the late tax bills this year and in the past. This hurts local governments who can't pay their bills on time and may now need to borrow money. Comm. Suffredin pointed out that the multiplier, set by the state Dept. of Revenue, is the highest ever-- "way out of whack." Comm. Peraica pointed out the equalizer is over 3% this year (high). Comm. Moreno stated that only 5% of all property taxes go to Cook County government.
