Cook County Forest Preserve Budget Hearing: October 25, 2012

Commissioners Present: Earleen Collins, John Daley, Gregg Goslin, and Larry Suffredin

Also Present:  Arnold Randall, General Superintendent, CC Forest Preserve District

Testimony began at 6:00 PM at the Skokie Court House, Skokie, IL

1) Kay Havens (Chicago Botanic Garden Staff) spoke about the internship program at the Gardens which began in 2002.  It gives hands on experience in botany, wildlife management, land-usage and conservation.  There have been 75-100 graduates of the program who have gone on to jobs in land conservation.  Federal stimulus dollars have been awarded to this nationally recognized program.

2) Joseph Walsh teaches ecology and genetics at Northwestern University.  He utilizes the forest preserve for his undergraduate classes and urges an increase in funding. There have been many proposals for additional programs in the forest preserve such as building a convention center to get people to interact with nature and building playgrounds.  These suggestions do not really encourage people to interact with nature.  Children are “hardwired” to respond to animals and to nature.  We need to be sure that we are not constructing artificial barriers to such interaction.

Arnold Randall commented that in the past the budget number has been inflated.  Commissioners are trying to be more transparent now and to be clear on what is actually being spent, rather than just putting out a number on paper. He assured Mr. Walsh that proposals that don’t make sense will be filtered out in the planning process.  Comm. Suffredin encouraged Mr. Walsh to continue using the Forest Preserve for his classes at Northwestern.

3) George Blakemore (a concerned citizen) wants citizens, particularly those in the black community, to get a fair share of jobs and contracts.  The commissioners need to educate and enlighten citizens about these meetings.

4) Rett Donnelly (volunteer in FPDCC) was happy to hear that the budget is not actually shrinking.  He and other volunteers have been working to combat invasive species such as buckthorn, Asian parsley.  He urges caring for what we have now rather than initiating new programs like camping, zip lines, etc. The FPD would need to add police for these new programs, which is an added expense.

Mr. Randall said that historically the FPD has not reached out to the general population.  They need to find ways to get people into the Forest Preserves.  People of the next generation need to be involved and learning to care for this resource.

--Submitted by Georgia Gebhardt

Cook County Budget Hearing, Skokie Courthouse, October 25, 2012

The Cook County Budget Hearing took place at 6:30 PM at Skokie Courthouse, Skokie, IL

Commissioners Present: John Daley, Larry Suffredin, Earleen Collins and Gregg Goslin

The following people testified before the commissioners.

1) George Blakemore (a citizen) urged commissioners to maximize use of tax dollars and not to employ illegal immigrants, who take jobs away from the black community.

2) Nefertiti Smith (AFSCME Council 31) was pleased that the budget contained no wholesale layoffs.  She was concerned that no one is being hired to fill current vacancies in the public defenders office, state's attorney, e.g. clerical positions.  Attorneys are forced to handle paperwork themselves because of short staffing.

3) Teayonia Cannon (AFSCME, Local 3696) was pleased that there were no layoffs, but she, too, was concerned that vacancies are not being filled in juvenile probation, forensic clinical services, and public defenders, e.g. She urged commissioners to look for additional revenue for these support staff positions.

4) Joel Africk (Respiratory Health Association) spoke in support of the $1 increase in the cigarette tax.  Young smokers are sensitive to cost and many will quit or not start in the first place.  We can save $25 million in medical expenses if we keep people from smoking.

5) Bruce Edenson (a citizen) said that he is a legal firearms owner and a member of the NRA.  He shoots for recreation and is opposed to the tax on firearms and ammunition.  He cited the 2^nd amendment right to bear arms.  There have been 400 homicides in Chicago, but 99% of bullets used were used in hunting and shooting.  This tax imposes a hardship on the gun owners and does not impede crime.  Gun owners will go outside Cook County for bullets and firearms.

6) Mary Kenney (AFSCME, #3486) represents probation officers.  The budget cuts 35 positions in the adult probation department.  They have lost 14% of work force, number of cases have jumped 82% and 40% of officers are working above case load.  The paperwork is burdensome. With the “second look” program the court will further stress the probation staff.  She urged restoration of at least 35 positions.

Commissioner Collins asked if there was any data on probationers’ recidivism.  Is the probation department effective? She supports reduction of jail population, but then there needs to be good probation services instead.

7) Barry Roseth (a citizen) objected to the taxes related to guns.  He stated that gun owners were being singled out and that is unfair.

8) Don C. Haworth (Owner of firearms school in Chicago and a private investigator) felt that he was being harassed because he recently was ticketed for a sign violation.  He wondered why the County doesn’t do something about all the unsupervised kids. He advocates concealed carry and is against the tax on bullets.  Gun owners will only go to other counties to buy bullets.

9) Jennifer Bobay (a community college teacher) had four students shot and killed.  She supports the tax on firearms and bullets.  She said if something can take someone’s life, it should be expensive to obtain.

10) Richard Feiss (a citizen) said he is a Vietnam vet with many pre-existing conditions.  Many of his fellow citizens are hurting now and need the safety net in Cook County. One should not have to commit a crime to get free health care in the jail. 

11) Diana Hackbarth (Illinois Coalition Against Tobacco) has a PhD. in nursing and takes care of patients with tobacco-related diseases.  She approves of raising tobacco taxes because it will discourage kids and adults from smoking. Taxes will result in savings to long-term health costs for Cook County.

12) Becky Dea Kyne (a citizen) is the mother of a child lost to gun violence.  She supports the bullet tax to combat violence that took her son.

13) Leonard Simpson (SEIU, Local 73) supports tax on tobacco and firearms.  He does not support managed competition and privatization of services. Union workers can provide better services with fewer turnovers. There should not be a “race to the bottom” in wages.

14) Anna Cienkowski (a citizen) opposes the tax on firearms and bullets.  She said she needs to protect her home.  She does not feel safe.  Taxes on “Mom & Pop” shops that sell guns are a hardship.  She supports concealed carry.  She asserts that guns are already regulated by the State Police.  She is against providing services to undocumented people.

15) Vidan Cienkowski is a naturalized citizen who objects to the rise in taxes.  Government makes excuses for raising taxes.  She is opposed to firearm and bullet taxes.

16) Lynn Morris (owner of Morris Gaming) is a naturalized citizen opposed to gaming terminal tax.  The video gaming tax will destroy her business.  It will hurt jobs.

Hearing was declared closed by John Daley. 

--Submitted by Georgia Gebhardt

Dept. Reviews Cook County 2013 Budget, October 22, 2012

Contract Compliance Director Shannon Andrews (new to the position) explained that this MBE/WBE/VBE office now includes Veterans (as well as minorities and women) in the effort to increase the use of  businesses run by these groups in Cook County contracts.  A relatively new ordinance was passed to accommodate this.  There are 10 FTE employees in this office.  Some accomplishments this year have been to make the registration process easier and more streamlined for these businesses, tracking contract compliance businesses, and having more outreach to minority-, women-, and veteran-run businesses.  The City of Chicago and Cook County now have the same requirements which should make it easier for these businesses to comply.  This year 19% of contracts have been awarded to minority-owned  and 5% to women-owned businesses.

Procurement/Purchasing Agent Lourdes Koss has been working on efficiencies and savings. This department has been training vendors on how to do business with the county.  She has been working on quicker bidding process because so many contracts are extended  instead of being re-bid on time. The cycle time for all contracts is still too high:  64 days for contracts under $25,000 and 264 days for larger contracts.  Much of the department has been restaffed from clerical to professional status and 35% of them are ready to take the qualifying Certified Public Professional Buyer exam.

Several commissioners questioned the use of consulting firm Accenture.  Concerns centered around this company getting paid to reduce expenses (for example in electricity use) when they really had no input on lower prices.  Another commissioner became angry at "middleman" use for office supplies.  Comm. Daley explained that the board had passed an ordinance--"procurement code"--which describes this process.  He did not feel the commissioners could exempt themselves from this code.

Kurt Summers, Chief of Staff, Office of the President explained that fiscal responsibility and streamlined methods transparency and accountability were goals of this office.  The budget calls for a $1.56 million decrease and lower staff numbers.  There are now 16 FTE employees.  The President's Office has partnered with 30 companies on a pro bono basis to improve services and lower costs.   They have reduced energy usage, produced on-time tax bills to save local governments money, and reduced hiring time.  Salaries for new hires are lower than under past administrations.  One commissioner expressed concern that there still isn't an attorney hired for the Board of Commissioners to help with ordinance writing and legal research.  It was explained that candidates have been interviewed and that several commissioners submitted members of their own staff for this position.

The newly named Justice Advisory Council deals with juvenile justice efforts and criminal justice in general.  They have been working on a bond court study to reconfigure bonds for low-risk offenders--reducing bonds so those awaiting trial  do not have to remain in jail.   Other areas of concern reducing the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center population as it is very expensive to house these youth and seems to be unproductive for their eventual release in society.  Fifty fewer youth detainees were held this year than last and the goal is to reduce the population even further.  Employment, housing, and healthcare for released detainees/prisoners is also a concern of this department.

The revamped Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department is designed to prepare for any type of incident--natural and man-made--that might arise in Cook County.  This department has had a lot of controversy in the past and it appears that reorganization, accountability, and more efficient use of equipment are goals.  There is also an increase in obtaining federal grants and in their efficient use.

Cook County 2013 Budget Departmental Reviews, October 22, 2012

October 22, 2012  Bureau of Finance
(CFO, Revenue, Risk Management, Budget and Management, Comptroller)

Commissioners Absent:  Butler, Goslin, Reyes, Murphy, Tobolski

CFO Tariq Malhance presented the balanced budget which had its audits done on time, is paying down the debt, is increasing efficiencies through collaboration with Chicago, and has shown savings in employee health care costs of 1/2 million per month.  This and other practices earned them AAA bond rating allowing lower interest rates for borrowing.

 Highlights of the budget is that it is down 2% from last year and has a revenue shortfall of $267.5 million  (Expenditures-Revenue=Shortfall).  The shortfall has been less each year of the last 3 years.  This gap is closed by eliminating 462 positions, most of which are vacant anyway; employee health care savings; and a hoped-for waiver of $99 million from the state to add non-paying residents to the Medicaid rolls.

Also some additional new taxes are proposed:  an additional $1.00 per pack of cigarettes ($25.6 million); a non-titled use tax for purchases made outside of Cook County by businesses, contractors and residents of Cook County ($15 million); tax on bullets & guns ($1million); gambling machine tax of $800 per machine ($1.3 million).

Special Purpose Funds are down 13.9%,  from $156,221,000 last year to $117,220,000 in the new budget.  Full Time Equivalent employee count is down about 400 positions to 21,526 employees for the next fiscal year.  New hires in Finance Department are 48 employees.  Some new hires will work on Technology and Capital Projects.  Others will be in area of tobacco tax enforcement.

There was a long discussion about the approach to revamping technology for the county.  Twelve new hires will need to start on preparing the scope of new systems. There were questions on why hiring of these important, high-level positions takes so long.  It appears that the Compliance Monitor  (and the inspector general and the plaintiffs) of the Shakman decree are taking up to 6 months to  decide whether a position is Shakman exempt.   These decisions are being negotiated among the parties involved.  Also not enough resumes of qualified people are coming in, probably because of the lower pay compared to private business. It was suggested that perhaps a headhunter could be hired to more efficiently find these needed employees.

Risk management, which deals with employee benefits, liability, safety and workers compensation, has also produced some savings in the new budget.   They have 22 employees with some of the newer hires dealing with disability leave checks.  There have been savings in employee and detainee medical rates. Seventy percent of employees are now in an HMO plan and detainees in the jails have a reduced Medicaid rate.  There has been a $293 million reduction in fringe benefit expenditures.  There will be exploration in encouraging employees to use the Cook County Health and Hospital System (Stroger Hospital).  There was also discussion on reducing the backlog of workers compensation cases by allowing cases under $25,000 to be more quickly processed and spending more resources and time on bigger claims.  There has been an increase of about $2 million per year due to the Affordable Care Act mandate to include children up to age 26 on parent's insurance.  The benefits package in the county (especially insurance) is considered very generous.

Budget and Management director Andrea Gibson stated that STAR management reports are considered in budgeting for the various elected officials and departments .  There will be a growing gap of the budget deficit due to increased wages/benefits, lack of  fees in the Health and Hospital System, and debt payments in years 2015-2017.

COOK COUNTY Health and Hospital System Finance Committee Meeting August 24, 2012

The meeting was called to order by Chairwoman Heather O’Donnell at 9 a.m. George Blakemore for Clean Government, spoke on the need for transparency in government contracts.  Lionel Saffold, SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Local 1, spoke on the need to hire responsible contractors who pay workers according to the contracts.

Four contracts were brought up for approval: 1) an increase to the budget for hiring extra nurses through a nursing agency, 2) a contract to GE Medical Systems for bedside monitors, 3) a contract to Simplex-Grinnell for hospital emergency fire equipment which would result in 18% savings over the previous contract, and 4) a contract with Health Record Solutions.  Board members posed questions on the need for using a nursing agency.  All contracts were approved by the board.  

The Financial Reports through July 31^st were presented by Dorothy Loving, Executive Director of Finance.  It was noted that the number of days of outstanding revenue had decreased since the winter months.  Budget deficits have also decreased compared to the same month in 2011 due to Retroactive Payments moving faster.  After listening to questions and answers, Chairwoman O’Donnell suggested that a training program giving a broad overview of the budget would be helpful for new board members.   The Financial reports were unanimously approved.

Dr. Raju presented the preliminary 2013 CCHHS Budget.  Discussion would be held immediately and the vote deferred to September 5 at a meeting of the entire board.  Dr. Raju said during past years, quality of care was separated from patient satisfaction, but now they plan to work on equating these two factors.  2013 revenue is based on payer mix by surgical procedure.  He said the new budget does not project a higher volume, and that HHSSC has been proactive on the 1115 Waiver for early enrollment by already enrolling 60,000 patients of the 115,000 they expect to enroll and follow through 2014.  As CCHHS does not currently have the ability to track and document  individual costs per patient, Chairman O’Donnell noted the 1115 Waiver gives the County the incentive to do so.

Continuing with the 2013 Budget overview Dr. Raju noted that expenses associated with Oak Forest were moved to Stroger Hospital, and the revenue from Oak Forest Hospital is now credited to Stroger Hospital and ACHN (clinics).  Supply chain savings are expected to be $25 million.  Vacant positions in the system continue to be a problem.  Currently there are 382 positions in the pipeline.  The 2013 budget also allocates an additional $8 million for more information systems.  Chairman O’Donnell asked for monthly reports on the supply chain purchases, waiver implementation with early enrollment, and meaningful use.

2013 Budget hearings will be held on August 28, August 30, and September 4.  The board meeting was adjourned at 10:20 a.m..

 
--Submitted by Eleanor Prince, League Observer