Nov. 8, 2011 Meetings on the Budget: Sheriff, Clerk of the Court, & State's Attorney

Sheriff Tom Dart

Sheriff Dart stated that his budget of $401 million is down from both 2011 ($412 million) and 2010, despite $54 million increase in salaries to be paid as approved by County Board.  The savings is due in part to the following:  inmates helping out at Animal Control; reduction in overtime from $22 million in 2010 to $11 million; payments from the Illinois Dept. of Corrections for housing some of their inmates; reducing the cost of food by having inmates prepare lunch (and may be able to have inmates prepare breakfast, both of which are “cold meals”); and reduction in jail population.  He praised the judiciary for increasing the number of those on electronic monitoring from 300 to 1100 currently.  He noted that while the total admissions has decreased (75,000 in 2007 vs. 65,000 in 2011), the average length of stay has increased from 47 to 54 days.  The inference was that it is taking longer to bring these people to trial. The Sheriff also stated that he thinks that they are getting close to putting the Duran court case and oversight behind them after 30 years.

His biggest concern is in the number of inmates with mental illnesses (regularly runs between 1200 to 2500 out of the 9,200 in custody), and this population produces the most costs to the County. With the closing of more state-run mental health facilities, he expects that population to grow even more.  Comm. Steele raised his concern about the proposed changes at Cermak  (which is responsible for treating the inmates) that the Health & Hospitals System is making with regard to changing out the mental health specialists who are currently not licensed with higher-level licensed specialists, but who are not known by the inmates.  Comm. Steele asked the Sheriff to talk to the Health & Hospitals System about the negative effect wholesale and quick changes may have.

Sheriff Dart said that his department could and should be handling more of the closings of foreclosed home sales since they can do them well and at lower costs than others who are doing them.  If his department handled all such closings, it would amount to $13 million in revenues for the County, but in 2011 he is bringing in only $118,000 for 448 out of the 9,500 he expected to do.  He has no explanation yet as to why his department isn’t being used.  On the plus side, in only 7 weeks of stepped up enforcement, his department has issued $1 million in citations for unpaid cigarette taxes.  He expects significantly more in 2012.

While Sheriff Dart stated that his department is 100% in compliance in taking the required furlough days, upon questioning, it turns out that about 5500 of his employees have been deemed “essential” and thereby exempt from taking the days.  In addition to the fact that much of his area (the patrol officers and jail) operate 24/7, the Sheriff stated that if these employees had to take furlough days, that would result in other employees covering through overtime, thereby increasing those costs.  Comm. Tobolski said that rather than some of these “essential” employees being allowed to take personal days, maybe these days should be furlough days. 

Comm. Silvestri stated that he had reached out to all the townships to see if they would help fund the graffiti unit which is being eliminated in this budget.

Clerk of the Court Dorothy Brown

Clerk Brown explained some of the achievements of the past year, including having motorists paying tickets online for $10 million; and piloting a program with 4 municipalities to have e-tickets issued and sent directly to her area with the expectation that all 128 municipalities will be participating this year.  She expects all judges to have computers on the bench in 2012, which will eliminate the need for her employees to bring paper files into court. 

At the time the proposed budget was published, her request was not in alignment with the President’s recommendation. However, Clerk Brown stated that she is working on coming into compliance and will submit proposed amendments by the deadline of Nov. 16.  In order to meet the recommendation, either layoffs or some furlough days will be necessary.

She noted that she did a study comparing her area to those in the 6 largest counties in the U.S.  While Cook is the 2^nd largest in # of cases filed, Cook is the 3^rd largest in # of employees.  Looking at 2010 numbers, her budget is at the bottom.  Comm. Tobolski stated that court filings are down 28% over the past 10 years, but the number of employees under the Clerk of the Court is down only 12%.  Clerk Brown pointed to her county comparison study in response.

Comm. Fritchey expressed concern over Clerk Brown’s proposal to seek State authorization to charge a 50 cent or $1 fee for every filing in a case, over and above the $303 to initiate a case.  Comm. Fritchey also asked about the Clerk’s Inspector General’s office with 20 FTEs, vs. the County Inspector General who has 18.  Clerk Brown stated that some of those employees are actually filling an auditing role, as opposed to handling complaints.  She is going to clarify the roles.  Comm. Fritchey also asked about the Controller’s office under the Clerk of the Court which has 65 FTEs vs. the County Controller only having 38.  Clerk Brown stated that her area handles lots of over-the-counter transactions and has to disburse funds to 950 agencies, necessitating lots of oversight and controls. 

State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez

While the State’s Attorney’s office has submitted a budget request in line with the President’s recommendation, it was clear that Ms. Alvarez was seeking additional money from the Board to reduce the number of layoffs that are necessary under the proposed budget (113, 93 of whom are administrative, including a number of those in the Victims’ Assistance department who have received a lot of attention in the public hearings).  She has done a comparison with other large counties and says her attorneys carry a much larger caseload.  Her proposed cuts in attorneys are more on the civil, rather than criminal side, to which she has given a priority out of public safety concerns.  However, she said the cuts on the civil side will necessitate having to go outside for some of the civil actions which will mean that the County will be paying a minimum of $185/hr vs. the $45/hr cost to handle inside.

It was clear that a number of the Commissioners will be trying to find more money for this office through the amendment process.  Comm. Tobolski stated that he is looking to cut more from the Health & Hospitals budget to provide more for the State’s Attorney.

-- reported by Priscilla Mims