Cook Co. board crawls toward 2010 budget
The Cook County Board of Commissioners moved toward adopting a 2010 budget today by voting to cut spending by $32.5 million, accounting for a half-cent on the dollar sales tax rollback voted on earlier this week.
President Todd Stroger has pledged to veto that cut, set to take effect next July, but the board signaled its resolve to override it when he does by voting 13-4 on the spending cuts. In fact, most of the opposition came from suburban Republicans who wanted to cut more.
The amendment that did pass, introduced by Evanston Democratic Commissioner Larry Suffredin at a special budget meeting today, cut the budget across the board 1.5 percent, 3 percent in departments that had not previously followed board directives to cut their 2010 budgets 5 percent from this year's levels.
"If you don't do this, you're going to be fighting over line items in the budget," Suffredin said.
"This should not be a problem," added Chicago Democratic Commissioner Forrest Claypool, "and should not affect operations in any way." He called the 1.5 percent cut "a good, solid budget device."
Bartlett Republican Commissioner Timothy Schneider had planned to introduce a later floor amendment cutting the budget 5 percent across the board except for the Health and Hospitals System and other departments under federal edicts, such as law enforcement and the courts. Chicago Democratic Commissioner John Daley fought the attempt, saying, "We're going to stick with the book" of amendments proposed before the meeting.
"I don't believe in cutting the hospitals," Schneider said, adding, "It does nothing to avert the collision course we're on for 2011," when the full annual budget will have to be cut $180 million to account for the reduced sales tax.
His Republican colleagues Gregg Goslin of Glenview and Liz Gorman of Orland Park lined up behind Schneider, with Goslin stating even the 3 percent cuts only rewarded the departments that hadn't made cuts previously.
The Health and Hospitals System was slated to take a $13.3 million cut. "It pretty much eliminates any cushion we would have or any flexibility," said HHS Chief Executive Officer William Foley. "We disagree with it."
"This is what we get when we save a half percent," said Chicago Democratic Commissioner Jerry Butler, who also voted against the budget cuts.
Yet, otherwise the board was resolved to go through with it. "A cut is a cut," said Riverside Republican Commissioner Tony Peraica.
The vote led the way toward passage of the 2010 budget, with Daley urging completion today. "It is the desire of the chairman to end this meeting and pass this budget today," he said. Yet, 55 additional floor amendments pending at this afternoon's session threatened that timetable.