Cook County Board Meeting September 11, 2013

The Finance Committee meeting met before the General Board meeting.  Of interest was elimination of the Office of Coroner, which is now the Medical Examiner office. Also, the Medical Examiner now has the power to cremate bodies.  Most big cities allow cremations, and this will allow the medical examiner's office to act more quickly to deal with remains of indigents, unless the remains are unidentified.  Cremation will save the County almost half the amount that it now costs the County to bury unclaimed bodies.

Two interesting agenda items, a proposal urging the IL General Assembly to create stricter criteria for who can serve as a Metra Board Director, and one asking for resignations from suburban Cook County Metra Directors, were moved to the Legislation Committee.

A very involved ordinance amendment dealing with Solid Waste and the county code was referred to the Finance Committee. 

An agreement between the Cook County Medical Examiner office and the Gift of Hope was proposed for organ and tissue donation.  After death, tissue can be retrieved for up to 24 hours.

Several contract extensions or transfers of funds to the Court System were approved.  There was a lot of discussion, particularly from Commissioner Sims, on the award of a contract to Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center, Olympia Field, and how the guidelines are written for an agency to bid for the business. Comm. Sims asked the representative from the Chief Judge's Office to arrange a meeting with Judge Evans to discuss the guidelines.

A new agenda item, offering a proposed resolution by Comms. Goslin and Schneider, urging the Illinois General Assembly to amend the Ethics Act, was sent to the Finance Committee.  Comm. Goslin explained that he sought to have County or board appointees to be included under the Act and used the Metra Board Members as examples of folks who would be covered with this resolution.  There was debate about which committee to refer this amendment to, and President Preckwinkle conferred with her counsel  who suggested that finance was the correct committee.  An amendment giving the Cook County Inspector General the authority to request the State's Attorney to enforce subpoenas was approved, with Comm. Sims voting present.

--Submitted by Laura Davis

Cook County Board Meeting, November 1, 2011

The meeting was called to order fifteen minutes late as other committees of the whole had been meeting. Commissioner Steele was absent.

The budgets for Metra and PACE were presented for 2012. After doing extensive customer research with their constituency, Metra decided to raise fares by 25% across the board rather than have cutbacks in service. Sales tax intake was lower, and diesel fuel costs have spiked. The total budget is $930.9 million. Metra is investigating free wifi on the trains.

PACE presented their budget of $195 million for 2012. Ridership is up by 5% but most of this is in ADA service which is much more expensive to provide than regular bus service. With this service, appointments are made for smaller jitney buses to pick people up from their homes 24 hours in advance. ADA ridership is increasing heavily due to the aging of the population.

The Finance Committee convened and the Cook County Health & Hospital System (CCHHS) was discussed. Dr. Ramanathan Raju, the CCHHS CEO, was on hand to answer questions. Patient fee collections are down by $105.6 million. Many employees of the hospital system did not take requested furlough days as they were considered essential employees, causing a shortfall to the balanced budget for this year. There are apparently 28,000 patients from Lake and DuPage Counties who use the Cook County hospital system each year, for which the county receives no reimbursement. Commissioner Silvestri requested Dr. Raju to investigate. Other commissioners wanted to know about $40 million spent on consulting fees. Cook County is investigating entering all their employees in an HMO/PPO system to cut costs.

Takashi Reinbold, Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Cook County, discussed the list of 10,000 Cook County employees who did not take furlough as they were considered “essential”. Comms. Beavers and Collins became defensive about being labeled “bad guys” for not taking furlough and each talked extensively about how their staffs were essential and spent the bare minimum. Other commissioners expressed their desire to fulfill compliance with a motion that was passed unanimously to help President Preckwinckle balance the budget. Apparently, most commissioners did indeed take furlough days and made the necessary 2011 cuts to meet budget. Comms. Beavers, Butler, and Collins have not yet complied with the motion.

The remaining agenda was passed quickly and the meeting was adjourned at 12:45pm.

Amy Little, Observer, November 1, 2011

Cook County Board Meeting --November 3, 2010

BUDGET REPORTS BEGIN

Starting the meeting were budget reports from the three transit agencies that receive some funding from Cook County or have board members appointed by Cook County Board. The audience did not have access to the actual budget numbers.

Terry Peterson, chair of the CTA Board stated there would be no fare increases and no service reductions for 2011 and that the budget was lower than in 2008. His concern was that the state of Illinois is late on payments to the CTA. The inspector general office of the CTA costs about $2 million per year, but is considered a good example for transportation oversight. In the future, the CTA and other transportation agencies would like to get away from fare cards and instead have customers use credit or debit cards.

Jim Dodge of the Metra Board presented a $1 billion balanced budget. They will need to move money from capital funds to operating funds this year. There was a concern that lower sales taxes and late funding from the state would impact the operations. There will be no fare increases in 2011 and there will be electric line improvements this year. Dodge stated the Metra Board is "resetting" after the scandals of administration payment irregularities. There is some concern over the type of inspector general office needed for Metra. Commissioner

Suffredin questioned Metra's plans regarding the replacement of 22 bridges and the ensuing disruption for North Shore riders. Dodge indicated the project will be re-planned to possibly cost less and cause less disruption.

PACE also indicated no fare increases or service reductions , but services cannot be expanded at this time. Ridership is down, probably due to higher unemployment. New buses will be hybrids and be smaller, since many buses are now half-empty. ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance is a large portion of the budget.

The RTA, which is the overriding agency of CTA, METRA, and PACE had concerns about the $300 million that the state of Illinois is behind in paying these agencies. All boards are having to dip into capital funds for operations. Commissioner Peraica expressed concern that the agencies have an alternate budget ready in case the state doesn't come through with the money. He also stated that employee pensions, salary, etc. will doom these transportation agencies.

During the Finance meeting, the revenue report for the last 10 months was presented by the Comptroller, Connie Kravitz. Revenues are currently ahead of budget projections by $4.7 million. However, by the end of the fiscal year it will come out even. Concern was shown about the reduction in sales tax rate, which began July 1st, and that the Health System is still behind in its collections. The county is also receiving more money due to increased foreclosures (fees) and late property tax payment penalties. The next (late) property tax bill will be mailed the week of Nov. 13th and will be due Dec. 15th.

The Board then went into executive session to discuss a lawsuit and this League member left. I missed the discussion on unemployment benefits for recently arrested staff member, Carla Oglesby.