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
2nd largest in # of cases filed, Cook is the 3rd 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
