Departmental Review Meetings for 2014 CC Proposed Budget: Monday, Oct. 28

Public  Hearing, State's Attorney's Office

The meeting began with a Public Hearing on the budget. There were 26 public speakers. First was Lawrence Msall of the Civic Federation and he stated that his organization's analysis of the proposed budget is available on their website at www.civicfederation.org. He raised at least 2 concerns – one being the uncertainty of the Medicaid revenue within the HHS budget, and the other being a needed long term plan for dealing with the pension issue which soon will be critical. Karin Hribar, LWVCC Co-President, gave testimony commending the board for improving the budget process in line with recommendations that the League has provided over the past several years. Her testimony is available on the LWVCC website at www.cookcounty.il.lwvnet.org.  Veterans organizations were well represented as well, and requested additional money for the Veterans Assistance Commission. The remaining speakers represented various non-profit and business organizations and were for the most part in favor of the budget and commended the President for various programs and for not introducing any new taxes.

Departmental reviews continued with Anita Alvarez, CC States Attorney, presenting for her office. She first reviewed the achievements of her office citing their focus on gang and gun violence that are their most significant issues and require the bulk of their budget. She stated that over the past five years they have had staff reductions due to budget constraints while their workload has continued to increase. Prosecutors have very heavy caseloads, a factor in the length of time required for adjudication of cases. She also stated that she does not have adequate staff to provide coverage for misdemeanor court at all times. She had requested funding for 34 new positions and the proposed budget includes funding for 12 new positions. 

Ms. Alvarez said that her office wants to work towards President Preckwinkle’s goals of decreasing the jail population by seeking alternatives to incarceration. All parties involved need to come to the table to work on the issues of bond court, diversion programs, and treatment courts. She stated that every part of the justice system needs to have the resources to hold up their end of the system so they can do what is necessary to make the justice system work better. 

Commissioner Suffredin commended Ms. Alvarez for her endorsement of a holistic view of the concerns and asked if she could put a value on the savings from the diversion programs. She stated that $15 million savings had been realized in all the diversion programs. 

Commissioner Fritchey wanted to know why only 8% of those arrested were being released on I-bonds while the numbers for NYC were 70% and for Wash. DC were 80%. He asked that since the SA’s provide information to the judge so that a decision can be made about bond, what can be done to ensure that people are not being held in jail who could be out on bond?  He also stated that the number of pre-trial detainees in the CC jail is 50% higher than in other major systems and that $44 million had been paid for cases that were eventually dropped. Ms. Alvarez said that she was not certain about his numbers but that the efforts to work on these issues will continue. 

Commissioners also wanted to know if the ticketing for marijuana offenses had made a difference in the workload for her office and she stated that there did not seem to have been a significant impact.

Cynthia Schilsky, LWVCC Observer

Cook County Budget Hearings October 25, 2013

                         The following are budget reports from Cook County
                                  Public Defender and Chief Judge

Public Defender Abishi Cunningham presented some details of his budget requests and changes made to his department in the past year.  First, the employee count (FTE) will increase  by 11 people in the area of line staff, investigators,  and additional attorneys. Last year the increase was 24 FTEs.   This should reduce overtime over the next year.  Staff and attorneys are working with outside groups to do bond reviews in order to lower bonds and/or  increase electronic monitoring.

Three new grants have been received:   to train attorneys on forensics such as DNA results;  for adult re-deployment  for non-violent drug users;  and for mitigation specialists to produce more informal sentencing decisions.

The Public Defender's office is working with the Clerk of the Court to monitor continuances (which appear to be excessive) in order to close cases more quickly.  Staff is being trained to use digital technology to help decrease court case duration.

One money-saving change in this department is purchasing fewer cars for employee use.  Instead, the use of  Zip Car, which is a public vehicle rental used by the county, and sharing the county's fleet vehicles  will lower expenses in this area.

STAR performance management goals include performance goals for staff;  evaluation of attorneys;    decreasing open cases;  and lowering complaints toward the Defender's office.  These last two goals have been accomplished in that there were fewer than 1% open cases and complaints.


Chief Judge Tim Evans appears to disagree strongly with President Preckwinkle's budget recommendation for the court system he leads and has asked the Commissioners to make amendments to increase his budget.  There is about a $6 million difference in the amount he has requested ($146.9 million) and the amount the President has budgeted ($140.6 million). He argued that the separation of powers in government, with all 3 branches being equal, warrants his getting 1/3 of the total budget;  his department currently has 5% of the budget.  He also complained that the President's office has many more highly paid (grade 24) employees than his office.  He has asked for 108 more employees and was budgeted 7 more.

Specifically, he has asked for more employees for a pre-trial service system  to make risk assessments of defendants.  This would aid bond court judges in making better decisions in deciding bond levels.  Currently, 51 probation officers are doing this job.  Judge Evans stated that judges use 38 factors including the risk assessment, current charge, and criminal history in determining bonds.  However, bond hearings usually last less than two minutes per case.

Psychiatric evaluations (to determine if a defendant is sane enough to stand trial) are taking 90 days and DNA evaluations are backlogged, both of  which make cases begin later and last longer.  With regard to juvenile defendants, Judge Evans stated that 5,000 are in alternative programs and 263 are in the Juvenile Detention Center.   He deems these programs a success in reducing recidivism and providing better rehabilitation for young defendants.

The County's new Legistar System (a new computer program) will enable outside hired attorneys to submit their payment orders themselves.  This should reduce transcribing errors, but attorneys and employees in the Clerk of the Court office will need to be trained in how to use the system correctly.

Judge Evans does not use the County's STAR performance management system but has stated "we are going to let the public know how close we are to standards."

Departmental Review Meetings for 2014 Budget : Monday, Oct. 21

The Cook County Board Finance Committee Budget Hearings continued today with presentations from 9 departments. The hearings began shortly after 9am and concluded for the day at 3:30pm. Commissioners drifted in and out of the hearings throughout the day with Comm. Tobolski, Fritchey, and Goslin not in attendance at all during the day. There was very little discussion of actual budget numbers with nearly all departments being in agreement with the President’s budget recommendation for their office/department. Most presenters did highlight the goals for their offices/departments and their success in meeting them but there was little reference to STAR by name and there was virtually no discussion about the goals from the commissioners.  

Board Of Review – Larry Rogers, Commissioner Board of Review

Mr. Rogers expressed support for the President’s budget recommendation for their department and stated his office’s intent to work towards ensuring that tax bills would again be sent out in a timely manner in 2014. Comm. Sims commended his office for their outreach in educating the public about the tax appeals process. He stated that there was a 64% success rate for appeals this past year but he thought a better measure was access to appeals, although he did not state a number for the actual number of appeals filed. (The number is in the budget book)

Assessor – Joe Berrios, Assessor

Mr. Berrios stated the intent of his office is to establish real value in property assessments and their intent to be better, faster, and more efficient so that tax bills are sent out on time. He stated that there is new state legislation that enables his office to pursue those claiming illegal exemptions and that he has 4 attorneys who are working on this type of fraud. These investigations are now done within his office and processed with an administrative hearing, and not contracted out as was done previously.  Several commissioners commended him for his outreach efforts and Comm. Gainer thanked his office for help with the new Land Bank.

Recorder of Deeds – Karen Yarbrough, Recorder of Deeds

Ms. Yarbrough stated that her office is dedicated to Accuracy, Efficiency, and Assistance. Anyone can come in and request and pay for a copy of a deed. One of their goals is to digitize their records back to 1871. Her office was required to hire a full time Shakman Compliance Administrator which did impact her budget and efforts continue to bring the office into Shakman compliance. Fraud related to filing of deeds is dealt with through the administrative judges. The office needs IT upgrades which are included in the IT budget. The President’s recommendation for this office is some $200,000 less than last year with a decrease of about 15 positions which Ms. Yarbrough highlighted as her efforts to reorganize this office through shifting of positions and efficiency. She also expects her revenues to increase.

Human Resources – Terry Larkin, Deputy Bureau Chief

Ms. Larkin related the achievements of HR to President Preckwinkle’s 4 Pillars – the county goals. Hiring time has been reduced. The process for compliance with Shakman went into effect in August and is now being monitored with the possibility of completion in 2014. A reporting tool is now in use for absenteeism and training is ongoing. The time for processing grievances has been reduced. She stated that case management for FMLA will be outsourced in an effort to better monitor its use since HR does not have the personnel to handle this internally. Negotiations with the unions for the 2012-1016 contracts are in process and the goal is to have them completed by the end of 2014. Comm. Gainer asked if there are allowances in the proposed budget for any COLAs that could result from these negotiations for 2014. Andrea Gibson, Budget Director, indicated that there are allowances included. Discussion ensued about employee sick leave, vacation, holidays, disability etc.  Comm. Gainer asked if a plan could be developed that looked at the cost drivers of benefits and how this relates to union negotiations and future budget considerations. Comm. Schneider asked if there is value in knowing the status of union contract negotiations since collective bargaining is such a complicated process. Lisa Medder, Dir. Of Labor Relations, stated that she would provide a status report with as much information as she can since negotiations are confidential. She also stated that only one of the 2008-2012 contracts remains to be settled. It is awaiting arbitration. There are 95 collective bargaining units with contracts to be negotiated and 80% of county employees are in a union.  The Teleo system is now used for posting and hiring of all positions except for those that are Shakman exempt and those that needed training in this system now have been trained so it is working much better than in the past. Comm. Garcia asked about HR for HHS. HHS does its own HR with the exception of collective bargaining and EEO complaints that are still done through the county HR office. Questions from the commissioners continue to revolve around Shakman compliance and there was a suggestion that perhaps an executive meeting needed to be called for training.

Homeland Security and Emergency Management – Michael Masters, Ex. Dir.

Mr. Masters stated that his department is using best practices as a guide for ensuring the safety and security of the residents of Cook County. They deal with the coordination of emergency preparedness throughout the county including all kinds of emergencies – weather, utility, health, law enforcement preparedness etc. Comm. Daley asked whether some of the grant money could be used for violence initiatives in the county or whether it must be used for  “terrorism”. Mr. Masters said there are restrictions on the use of homeland security grant money but perhaps some money can be used for violence initiatives.

Bureau of Technology – Lydia Murray, Chief Information Officer

Ms Murray just completed her first year in her position and highlighted her achievements that were based on her interactions with persons throughout county government. The internet capacity has been doubled. A catalogue of the services of the department has been published and they use this to measure their performance. Contract management has improved and clarifying contracts will be a goal going forward, Cooperation among the many IT efforts has been a primary goal so that there can be better coordination of resources and communication between systems. A $40m investment in IT throughout the county is budgeted in 2014. She wants to have all project managers to be county managers not vendor managers so there is more control over the projects. 18 project managers will be funded from capital money.

Veterans Assistance Commission – Abundio Zaragoza, Supt.

Mr. Zaragoza stated that his office located in the lower level of the JTDC provides services to veterans. These services include career assistance, housing location, rent and utility assistance, money for food, transportation vouchers, clothing and furniture. He runs the office with 2 part-time employees. This commission has a proposed budget of $300,000 which is an increase of $300,000 from the previous year. Mr. Zaragoza indicated that he has run out of money towards the end of the year but it was unclear whether he was still able to provide services..

Human Rights and Ethics – Ranjit Hakim, Ex. Dir. (in his position since August)

Mr. Hakim stated that he oversees the 11 member Human Rights Board that adjudicates complaints against the Human Rights Ordinance and the Wage Ordinance, and the 5 member Board of Ethics that adjudicates complaints against the Ethics Ordinance. His budget in the 2014 proposed budget is a 7.8% reduction so he stated he must be more responsible within his office. His plans include interagency cooperation with the use of Administrative Hearings when necessary, and not outsourcing adjudications. Focusing on investigation and adjudication and identifying and eliminating the expenses within the department that are not part of their mission. Women’s Issues has been removed from this department. He has implemented a case management system to deal with cases. There was a backlog of 150 Human Rights cases when he arrived and that has been reduced to 138. There are also 14 Ethics cases that are older than a year and he would like to expedite these and cut down on the time it takes for a case. Comm. Simms asked him what his role was in payment of the commissioner’s contingency funds. According to the recently approved Ethics Ordinance the ED has to sign off on any requests for reimbursement. Mr. Hakim stated that his role was to ensure that the requests were in compliance with the criteria as outlined in the ordinance. From further discussion it appears that an amendment to the ordinance is forthcoming as there seems to be a lack of understanding among some about what are political activities as opposed to what are the normal duties of a commissioner.

Board of Commissioners – Matt DeLeon, Secretary of the Board

Mr. Deleon outlined the many changes that have occurred within the office. The Legistar System which unifies agendas and the data base is now in place. All board and committee meetings are now live streamed and archived. The budget hearings are online. The commissioners will all be receiving ipads within the next week on which they will have the necessary documents for their meetings in an effort to go paperless. After several minutes of discussion of how to use the ipads and storing information in the “cloud” the meeting was recessed at 3:30pm

Submitted by Cynthia Schilsky, observer

Departmental Review for 2014 Budget October 17, 2013

Bureau Of Finance

Ivan Samstein, the Chief Financial Officer of the Bureau of Finance presented an overview of the 2014 budget for the Commissioners:

Proposed Budget is $3.2 billion which includes no new taxes, fines or fees.  It does include a large increase in anticipated CC Health and Hospitals System [HHS] payments of $86.5 million due to the so far successful early enrollment in the CountyCare Medicaid Program paid for by the Federal Affordable Care Act.  This will be used to support the HHS transformation from emergency care to preventative and primary care.

The budget also includes a 21% increase in grant revenue including a $4.5 million grant from the Illinois Attorney General to the Cook County Land Authority – a new agency charged with bringing vacant and abandoned properties back to productive use.  Commissioner Gainer is the chairwoman of the new land bank board which is opening for business this fall.  The President’s goal is to increase budget-wide grant funding from $147 million in 2014 to $200 million over the next five years. 

Several departments and budget areas will be adding more employees.  For example, the Medical Examiner will add more than 20 employees which will bolster its efforts to achieve national accreditation.  Public Safety Funding increases by $31.4 million over 2013 due to mandated Federal hiring at the jail and a shift that moves 17-year olds charged with felonies from the adult court system to the juvenile system.

The Bureau of Technology is investing $1.5 million to expand and improve the County’s aging broadband networks.  There will also be investments in the Office of the Independent Inspector General’s case management system to improve its ability to “root out and reduce misconduct”.

A charge for courthouse parking for visitors and employees is a new initiative and outside vendors are being interviewed.  Revenues of $2.9 million are expected to start generating in the 2^nd quarter. Commissioner Suffredin said that he will bring a proposal to the next Commissioners meeting requiring the Administration to negotiate with the unions over this new parking expense. 

In 2014 the county will pay $193 million into the Pension fund which is the maximum allowable under State Law.  It has also budgeted $186 million in debt service costs for capital projects and self insurance.  This $186 million will rise over time to $300 million [2017] and then is projected to stay stable for several years before dropping off slightly.  Currently, CC has $3.7 billion in outstanding bond debt.  Because of Moody's downgrade of the County's creditworthiness, the cost to service that debt is projected to increase $300,000 to $400,000.

  

Sources of Income as it relates to total budget                                                       

Fees [including CountyCare]    34.5%

Home Rule Taxes     21.6%

Property Taxes [excludes uncollected]     20.3%

Capital                                                                                      9.3%

Grants [homeland security & block grants]                         4.6%

Intergovernmental Revenues                                     3.9%

Dedicated special Purpose Funds                            3.4%

Personal Property Replacement Tax & Other        2.4%

Expenses as a percent of Total

Health & Hospital Systems                                       32.3%

Public Safety  [courts & jails]                                    30.6%

Fixed [debt service, benefits, utilities]                     20.5%

Capital Improvement                                                             9.3%

Gen. Gov., Finance, and Adm.                                   3.7%

Property & Taxation                                                  2.7%

Economic Development                                                .8%

Departments under the Bureau of Finance:

Revenue

Risk Management   

Budget & Management Services

Comptroller

Office of Contract Compliance

Enterprise & Resource Planning

Chief Procurement Officer

Commissioner Gainer asked the department of Risk Management which handles worker’s compensation, health benefits, and general liability to work with the Dept. of Revenue to think outside the box in this time of expanded health care opportunities because of the Affordable Care Act.  She asked what the department’s goals are for 2014 and was answered “I want to get the quirks out of plan designs in the union Health Care Plans”.  It is worth noting that there are 95 separate bargaining agreements that involve health benefit coverage.

Commissioner Suffredin asked if Cook County is considering offering the Health and Hospital employees the opportunity to join CountyCare at a discounted rate.  He also said that he did not see any STAR performance goals for this department.

Under the Presentation from the Dept. of Revenue, it was noted that the County is stepping up enforcement of the Alcohol tax.  It will identify wholesalers and distributors to be audited to ensure that they are in compliance with the code.   The Non-Titled Use Tax is not in the 2014 budget but the County is appealing the court decision.  The Firearms Tax is projected to go from $501,000 in 2013 to $750,000 in 2014, and the Tobacco tax revenue was raised by $6 million.

The newly formed Enterprise and Resource Planning Department will provide services county-wide and reflects the Administration’s commitment to improving  Financial Technology Systems.   This includes a new payroll system.  Most of these projects will be financed through the Capital Funds.  A goal is to bring a new Time and Attendance System to the Board of Commissioners by the end of the year.

The Department of Contract Compliance is for the first time in 2014 adding Veterans as a covered group.  No goals were discussed.  The department will develop a new certification and compliance management system at the completion of its Diversity Disparity Study – also in 2014.  A new position will be added that will be dedicated solely to Health and Hospital Systems contracts, funded by HHS, but housed under the Administration’s Department of Contract Compliance.

Four new employees will be added to the Comptroller Department under payroll, general ledger, and professional staff in the reporting area.  Goals for 2014 include maintaining a vendor payment system that, on average, goes out in 31 days.  The Illinois local government statutory requirement is payment within 60 days.  It will up to the Comptroller’s office to implement the new payroll system.

On a final note, Commissioner Simms stated that as the Federal Block Grants money continue to decline and is no longer used exclusively for infrastructure,  the County needs to set a goal of finding more grant money for county highways.

submitted by Diane Edmundson

CCHHS Budget Review, October 22, 2013

Cook County Health and Hospital System Chairman David Carvalho summarized that primary and preventive care are now at the forefront; the System's "failures" go to the hospital. This change requires new and different job skills, new and different job titles, new and different salaries as we compete in the marketplace.  Dr Raju added that the task is to create a viable, sustainable health care system while serving our mission of providing care.  Dr Raju stressed the intangible but very significant value of CountyCare participants' having a healthcare card, providing them with security and pride.  As services improve, more patients will choose CCHHS and resources will be maximized.

VISION:

•  Build a HMO to go on the market by October 2014 providing a variety of health care plan options, so that as participants' needs change, they can adapt their plans and still choose to receive care through CCHHS.  In that way, CCHHS can become (1) Plan, (2) Provider, (3) Payer, and (4) Manager, and the result will be an AFFORDABLE plan because there will be many participants. 
•  Make sure every vendor contract has deliverables and accountability by vendor. 
• Invest in IT. Better documentation and reporting by physicians will result in increased revenue collection.  (In the past this was not necessarily true.)
• Transform Provident to a regional ambulatory care center by 2015.  Currently only 10% of Provident bed capacity is in use, diminishing each year.
• Improve dental care.  Next year 11-16 dental care providers will be located across the County.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• As of October 22, 2013, 115,000 CountyCare applications have been filed.  Of these 48,000 have been approved by the State, which can now approve 500 applications per day.
• The ACA is allowing CCHHS to be reimbursed for serving a segment of the population that we were already caring for, so the increased revenues can be used to improve the system.
• The wait time has been reduced to 110 minutes in the Stroger ER 
•  729 positions were filled this year, vs. 420 last year. 
•  Thanks to an IT investment, CCHHS has been awarded Level 1 Meaningful Use and brought in $8 million in federal funds for IT improvements. 
•  $46 million/month will accrue to CCHHS due to the CountyCare program
• There are now 138 primary access points for healthcare in Cook County.
• New CountyCare patients choose Federally Qualified Health Centers for care by a 2 to 1 margin.  Most CCHHS CountyCare patients have chosen to stay with CCHHS.

CONCERNS

• Cook County jail has an estimated 2500 mentally ill detainees.  22 mental health workers are to be added at Cermak Clinic, but that number may be insufficient.  Tobolski cautioned that for the county as a whole it is the state's job to provide mental health and they should be held accountable to do that, not CCHHS.
• There will still be uninsured people in Cook County (including undocumented), and CCHHS will have to provide care for them.  We can't eliminate the subsidy needed to provide this care, but to continue to provide $500 million in uncompensated care is a danger to the system's sustainability. 
•  Stroger Hospital needs to improve its image in order to attract more paying customers.  Stroger's  reputation as a burn, trauma, and wound center is unparalleled, but many are not aware of the high quality of services in other areas.

ACCOLADES

Most commissioners strongly commended Dr. Raju, David Carvalho and the CCHHS board for their many accomplishments in the last two years - improving financial stability, improving information systems,  improving healthcare services, and making these services available and affordable for a much larger segment of Cook County's population.

submitted by Linda Christianson