- County faced a $487 million budget deficit that has been overcome in the proposed budget through
- Overall 15% in reductions from 2010, including
- 17% in departments under the President
- 21% in Health & Hospitals System by expediting implementation of the previously approved strategic plan
- 12% in departments under the Sheriff, who is joining with the President in a joint task force on employee absences and looking at shared services and reducing layers of management
- 10% in both the Public Defender's and State's Attorney's offices, who had made the case that they could not meet a 16% target without seriously undermining the services they provide
- 17% in departments under the President
- Proposed increase in certain user fees
- Pursuing late and unpaid taxes (particularly the cigarette tax)
- Closing tax loopholes
- Restructuring the county debt (which will save $60 million)
But to eliminate structural deficit in the future, the President is proposing to restructure how the county operates by exercising budget controls, including a new Performance Based Management and Budgeting ordinance (described in the previous post on the regular Feb. 1 Board Meeting). But this ordinance is also directed at improving services.
- The President reiterated her commitment to take the steps so that ¼ cent of the sales tax can be rescinded in 2012, followed by another ¼ cent reduction in 2013.
The proposed budget was referred to the Finance Committee for review, which it will conduct in a series of meetings with department heads and elected officials beginning on Feb. 3. Look for postings about these meetings on this blog. Hearings where the public can submit comments will be held on Feb. 9 in the Maywood Courthouse, Feb. 10 in the Skokie Courthouse, Feb. 15 in the Markham Courthouse (all at 6:30 pm), and on Feb. 16 at 10 am in the County Building.
The Board needs to approve a budget by the end of February.
--Submitted by Pris Mims
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