2010 Cook County Budget Passes; $80,000,000.00 over 2009 Budget

Thursday, November 19th, was scheduled for the Cook County Board of Commissioners to deal with over 50 amendments to the 2010 budget. It looked like this would take days, but since numerous amendments were presented by Tony Peraica to reduce the budget, eliminate programs, etc. and no other commissioner would give a second, these were readily dismissed. Some highlights of the day include the following:

All departments, bureaus, commissioners' offices, etc. were previously instructed to cut 5% from their budget requests. Many Commissioners and departments did not do this, and they seemed to be rewarded for their laxness. At this meeting, all areas were cut an additional 1.5% to account for the previous day's sales tax reduction. Comm. Claypool commented that under "best practices" this cut can easily be absorbed by departments due to rotating staff vacancies. Those that had not cut the 5% previously were cut an additional 1.5%. The "unfairness," as Comm. Schneider pointed out, is that those who complied were cut a total of 6.5% and those who did not were cut 3%. This cut the Health and Hospital System (HHS) budget by $13.3 million, which Comm. Schneider said is unwarranted since HHS is well-run.

In the future, grants will have their own line items in the budget and will be made known to the commissioners on a monthly or quarterly basis. Regarding Commissioner expenses, all need to be reported quarterly, with proof, in the future. Comm. Schneider pointed out that some commissioner offices spend $100,000.00 more than others.

The Stroger-proposed new film commission ($250,000.00) was defeated since most commissioners felt now was not an appropriate time to add this type of spending. Some felt current employees could liaison with the Chicago and Illinois Film Commissions already in place.

Some new programs were added to this budget, including one $40,000.00 position in the Ethics, Human Rights and Women Dept. to deal with women's issues.

Money was transferred from reductions elsewhere to aid incarcerated, pregnant women with prenatal care. Funding for counseling services for those experiencing foreclosure was also passed.

The issue of red light cameras at Cook County intersections was discussed. Two red light companies will present contracts to do this at 30 intersections. This appears to be favored mostly by Comm. Moreno, who said up to 150 intersections could be involved. This would provide a large stream of revenue for the County. Several commissioners debated whether this was mainly for revenue or for safety reasons.