In this post: Juvenile
Temporary Detention Center, Chief Judge, Public Defender, and County
Treasurer
This is the last day
the Finance Committee is meeting with Elected Officials and Department Heads to
go over their individual proposed budgets.
On Monday, November 14, the Finance Committee is going to be considering
and voting on proposed revenue increases.
Proposed amendments to the budget are due on Wednesday, November 16. And the Finance Committee expects to debate
and vote on the entire budget on Friday, November 18. The Commissioners on the Committee will
likely then immediately reconvene as the County Board and vote to accept the
budget as amended by the Finance Committee (which is composed of all the same
people).
Juvenile Temporary
Detention Center (“JTDC”)
This was probably
the longest of the departmental meetings, lasting about 3 hours. However, during that time, there was no
direct discussion of the fact that the President’s recommended budget is about
$6 million less than the departmental request.
Based on information from other sources within the budget books, the
President expects the costs to be less than the department requested if more of
the juveniles now being housed there can instead be placed in alternative places
in the community. The Transitional
Administrator, Earl Dunlap, did say that the Court would need to determine who
would qualify for these alternative placements, but generally, it would be the
juveniles who are now housed in the JTDC for 7 days or less (who comprise 67% of
those admitted) and those who come in on bench warrants. Mr. Dunlap stressed that the JTDC is just a
pre-trial facility and its purpose is for public safety, not for rehabilitation
(and 80% of the population is there for 2 weeks or less). He also stressed that the JTDC is a costly
operation and the County is getting very little for its investment. A fair number of the juveniles would be
better served in community-based programs, but that is going to take a
commitment from the communities, as well as the County and Judiciary.
The number housed in
the JTDC is down considerably from the average of 402 in 2008; as of this July,
there were 296 juveniles there. However,
Mr. Dunlap said that the numbers could start going up based on legislation in
Springfield which would treat 17-year olds, currently treated as adults, as
juveniles instead. Mr. Dunlap said that
he now has a great deal of confidence in the staff working there. Comm. Gainer and Silvestri commented that
they have both seen a big improvement in the atmosphere there. While Mr. Dunlap said that the school at the
JTDC has improved tremendously, Comm. Gainer still has concerns that further
changes are necessary. For example, the
school hours should start later (consistent with studies that show teenagers
need more sleep in the morning) and run longer, so the juveniles have less free
time in the afternoons.
Mr. Dunlap also
vigorously defended the money budgeted for mental health services provided by the Isaac Ray Center. He said that there were 519
incidents requiring mental health expertise, 404 (78%) of which were due to
suicide issues.
Upon questioning
from Comm. Murphy, Mr. Dunlap said that the $24,000 salary increases for Asst.
Superintendents is due to the fact that they were hired last year at a lower
rate and now, after one year of service, he is convinced they can do the job and
deserve the higher rate. He also
explained that overtime is going up in the budget (by $500,000 over 2011)
because the JTDC is reducing its reliance on contract employees (down by $2.4
million from 2011) now that the staff is more settled.
Mr. Dunlap said that
he expects that in 2012 the JTDC’s transition from Federal Court supervision to
coming under the supervision of the Cook County Chief Judge will at last take
place.
Chief
Judge
Chief Judge Timothy
Evans explained that the budget submitted by his area called
for 73 reduced positions, but that under the budget submitted by the President,
85 more positions would be lost. He is
working on submitting a proposed amendment that would be budget neutral, but
which would allow him to save those positions.
There was some confusion in looking at the overall budget of the Chief
Judge, because that includes all the departments under him, including that of
the JTDC, even though it is still under Federal Court supervision. Judge Evans said that he has started the
process of looking for a new head of the JTDC in anticipation of it coming under
his supervision.
Comm. Gainer
expressed concern that there are no measurements in place yet for determining
the effectiveness of several different providers of services related to
foreclosures, even though the contracts have been in place for 4 months,
totaling $3.6 million. However, she also
praised the specialty courts that have been established (e.g., for prostitution
and veterans).
Judge Evans touted
the fact that the judges have helped reduce the jail population by ordering
electronic monitoring in lieu of incarceration for those who pose no
threat. However, he says that 1/3 of
those ordered to go on electronic monitoring actually do. He told the Commissioners to ask the Sheriff
why the difference. (Ironically, in past
years, the Sheriff was complaining to Commissioners that judges weren’t ordering
electronic monitoring.) One of the costs
incurred by the Sheriff is to transport inmates to court from the jail. Judge Evans said that he will allow
video-conferencing in lieu of transport if the defendant waives the right to be
in court. However, he also admitted that
most defendants would take the opportunity to get out of the jail to appear in
court. One of the cost savings in the
overall budget is due to eliminating weekend bond courts in the suburban courts
and having 26th & California be the single location on the
weekends. This was a cost savings that
the Sheriff had pushed for several years, to which Judge Evans has now agreed.
Public
Defender
Similar to the
State’s Attorney, the Public Defender, the Hon. Abishi Cunningham, Jr., has agreed
to a reduced budget, but warned the Commissioners that the cuts were getting
dangerously close to not allowing the department to meet its mandate. He asked that any additional money that could
be found would be directed to his office.
Comm. Daley said that the President was working on an amendment which
would restore some of the positions that have been cut, which include some 10
attorneys, 29 investigators, and 20 support people, which represent $2.8 million
in cost savings.
County
Treasurer
Treasurer Maria
Pappas touted her budget which is a 6% reduction in General Funds from 2011, or
a reduction of $150,000. She is
utilizing $225,000 more from the Tax Sales Automation Fund, a special purpose
fund that can only be used to cover automation-related expenses. She is very proud of the automation efforts
of her department which have resulted over the past decade in a reduction of
employees from 250 to 110 for 2012. In
response to a question from Comm. Gainer, Treasurer Pappas said the state
legislation which requires the tax sales to be moved earlier in the year to July
results in about $5 million less per month.
Previously, the Treasurer determined when to hold the
sale.
-- reported by Priscilla Mims
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