Cook Co. budget on target for vote

The eye of the hurricane passed over the Cook County Board at its regular meeting Wednesday.

Yet with board President Todd Stroger still expected to veto a 0.5 percent cut in the county sales tax passed at Tuesday's combative special meeting, and with another special meeting to potentially pass the 2010 budget set for today, that calm didn't figure to last.

Even so, Democratic Chicago Commissioner John Daley, chairman of the board's finance committee, said he remained optimistic the budget would be passed today, the loose deadline set by Stroger when he presented it.

"That's the date everyone wanted," Daley said, "and every commissioner I spoke to wanted it passed early," before the formal start of the fiscal year in December.

Commissioners were waiting to see when Stroger was to veto the halfpenny-on-the-dollar rollback of the county sales tax and appeared to have more than the 11 votes necessary to override the veto, as it passed Tuesday by a 12-5 tally. A Stroger spokesman said the president had not indicated just when he would veto it, within the five business days allowed, and that he could not comment on whether Stroger still expected to complete the budget process today.

Daley said the budget already takes into account the rollback, which would potentially take effect July 1 and, with taxes collected in arrears, would affect the last two months of the 2010 budget, requiring $37 million in cuts. "There will be an amendment that will take into consideration the rollback," Daley said.

Yet with 40 amendments already attached to the budget, and the possibility for more floor amendments, it could snag at any point. "The problem with floor amendments," Daley said, "is if you have a floor amendment and there's costs we have to have it verified by budget. So then you'd have to recess."

Evanston Democratic Commissioner Larry Suffredin has said he expects the budget to pass with a full day's work Thursday. But Bartlett Republican Commissioner Timothy Schneider has said he's seen them much closer to completion than now and still had the process drag out to the final deadline at the end of the fiscal first quarter in February.

Jim Clark, Schneider's chief of staff, said, "It may get passed" today. Schneider is intending to simplify things by proposing a 5 percent cut across the board, but for health and law-enforcement spending dictated by federal edicts. That would save $126 million, with Schneider proposing they put about $30 million toward a pension shortfall and the rest be saved for the 2011 fiscal year.

Wednesday's meeting was largely uneventful, but did feature a couple of sparring matches. Stroger and Riverside Republican Commissioner Tony Peraica exchanged words over Stroger having Peraica's microphone cut off at Tuesday's meeting.

Suffredin raised objections to Chicago Democratic Commissioner Earlean Collins' proposed resolution calling on the General Assembly to accept its responsibility for funding the majority of education and shifting that funding from property taxes to the income tax, with Suffredin citing several bills already pending in the legislature on that subject. Chicago Democratic Commissioner William Beavers then shot back, "I'm getting sick and tired of people thinking they've got more brains than anybody else on the board."

When the resolution came up for a vote, Collins could be heard cajoling Chicago Democratic Commissioner Bridget Gainer behind the scenes to get her vote, but it failed to pass when Crestwood Democratic Commissioner Joan Patricia Murphy failed to get on the floor before the 7-7 final tally was recorded.

Finally, just before adjournment, Chicago Democratic Commissioner Deborah Sims complained of "political tweeting in this room." Without naming names, she was apparently referring to Peraica's Twitter feed entry posted during Tuesday's meeting: "Com. Debbie Sims still does not get it. She blames the press for her vote to support Stroger Sales Tax. Time to vote her out." Sims said that constituted electioneering on public time.

So there are plenty of storm clouds on both horizons for today's budget showdown.