Cook Co. Board District 17 hopefuls differ on budget cuts

Candidates vying to represent Cook County Board District 17 differ on whether the county board should cut 10 percent across the board out of its 2011 budget, to plug a $300 million deficit.

However, incumbent Liz Gorman and her Democratic challenger, Patrick Maher, agree the county needs to rein in spending.

Maher, of Orland Park, says the county board should scrutinize spending line item by line item like he did as trustee for the Orland Fire Protection District, which abated taxes in 2008 and 2009.

“To just go out and blatantly cut 10 percent is just a lazy way of cutting the budget," Maher said. “We need commissioners in there who know how to live within their means, within the budget."

He said some areas of the budget could be cut more than 10 percent, but others, such as the court system and sheriff's office, couldn't handle that big a cut.

Gorman, running for her third term, said county government will need to make drastic changes because the money just isn't there to continue spending at current levels.

“There's going to have to be some major overhauls," said the Orland Park Republican.

Gorman said there already has been resistance to the 10 percent budget cuts idea.

“I know the public defender has been knocking on the commissioners' doors saying he can't do the 10 percent cut," she said. “Everybody has a case and there's going to be plenty of objections."

As difficult as the 10 percent cuts would be, “I don't know where else we can go," she said. “I think we can get people to start shopping more in Cook County by being more business-friendly and putting our businesses on a level playing field."

Gorman said she supports lowering both sales and cigarette taxes.

She recommends consolidating some functions, such as combining information technology personnel from different departments to create a new IT department, which she says will eliminate duplication of services.

Gorman said streamlining the $1 billion Cook County health system budget is a good starting point. “And it needs to happen on the other two fifths of the budget," she added.

Maher also supports rolling back the other half of the controversial 1-percentage-point sales tax increase imposed two years ago. The county board reduced it by half this summer.

Maher doesn't believe cutting back on health services is the way to go. He criticized Gorman for agreeing to cutbacks at Oak Forest Hospital.

“In today's economy, when more and more residents are having to use public health care services, now is not the time to be taking that away from them when we have waste in other areas of county government," he said.

He said would rather the county hospital system step up efforts to collect the millions of dollars it is owed.

Maher and Gorman are vying to represent District 17, which stretches from Wheeling and Des Plaines south to Orland Park. Also on the Nov. 2 ballot is Green Party candidate Matthew Ogean from Orland Park.