Chicago News
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NOV 02, 2017
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Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Ponni Arunkumar told commissioners Wednesday that deaths from multiple gunshot wounds and the growing opioid crisis were a stressor on her office, and that the county was gaining a national reputation for the deaths. The Bureau of Administration, which oversees close to a dozen departments, held court for the entire morning at budget hearings. Questions from commissioners largely focused on the cost of those deaths, as well as the county’s position bargaining with unions.
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The License Appeal Commission is one of the city’s smallest departments with a 2018 budget appropriation of $186,667 and a staff of two. Its commissioner is Michael Fleming, and his staff assistant is Michelle Guzman-Flores. This is likely why Fleming had a quick, early morning hearing with few questions from aldermen.
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NOV 01, 2017
The Chicago Department of Public Health’s public commitment to prioritize behavioral health services in Chicago was called into question Tuesday when aldermen asked how it stacks up against an overall reduction in the number of city-run clinics and unfilled psychiatrist positions.
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Union officials representing county workers, hospital and clinic advocates, and fiscal hawks gathered for the second of several public hearings on Cook County’s budget Tuesday. Some pleaded with commissioners not to cut services, others warned not to negotiate contracts in public, and the Civic Federation’s Laurence Msall urged commissioners against taking the easy way out.
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OCT 31, 2017
Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans (center) testifies before aldermen on CDA’s $823 million budget for 2018. Credit: Claudia Morell
Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans spent much of her budget testimony Monday assuring aldermen that her department has no plans to remove the city’s existing Aviation Security Officers (ASOs) with a private firm. Several referenced a bid the department issued in May for “unarmed security guard services” at both airports. -
OCT 31, 2017
Though the Department of Aviation was the main event of Monday’s budget hearings on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s spending plan for next year, aldermen also heard from the commissioners for the Department of Fleet and Facilities Management (2FM), the Mayor’s Office for People With Disabilities, and the Department of Special Events and Cultural Affairs (DCASE).
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Cook County’s Independent Inspector General Patrick Blanchard estimated he could take on extra IG functions if commissioners decide to consolidate offices, but he’d need extra resources. The office makes up .0034% of the overall budget, he said. “We have 15 investigators that are all there for the right reason, as a whole they’re very, very good.” But a broader effort would necessitate a bigger budget.
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Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough says while she has only met once with County Clerk David Orr’s staff about their offices combining, she predicted, “We’re going to be fine.” She also said after roughly 25 years, she expects her office to exit a consent decree related to political hiring in 2018.
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Aldermen approved the reappointment of the chair of the city’s Board of Ethics after a year of crackdowns on improper lobbying, and meet today to amend the city’s electrical code. On the county side of the building, commissioners will hear from members of the public on the proposed FY 2018 budget, which is still in flux.
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Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas offered her characteristically blunt budget assessment Monday. She cut 25% from her operating budget, presented a 123 page budget book, and provided her own illustration of how the county landed in its fiscal situation–offering step raises and COLA increases that it didn’t know how to pay for.
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OCT 30, 2017
City Council budget hearings concluded late Friday night with a small crowd of about five aldermen left to question the head of the Department of Animal Care and Control. The day started with a last minute schedule change that put long-time Department of Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld ahead of the newly installed Commissioner for the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP).
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Commissioners accredited Assessor Joe Berrios for being one of few county elected officials who met Chair John Daley’s (D-11) request to cut 10% from his budget for 2018. But on Friday, President Toni Preckwinkle’s budget director, Tanya Anthony, said while Berrios claimed to cut close to $3 million, he cut less than $1 million.
