Commissioners made quick work of Board business Wednesday, flying through committee agendas without debate in time for the Finance Committee to kick off only 20 minutes behind schedule, and for the business of the full board to wrap by 12:30 p.m. The day’s only sticking points were discussions of the county’s finances–spurred in part by the impending beverage tax, one commissioner said.

Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski (D-16) had a series of pointed questions for officials from the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) and the Sheriff’s office. He said he expected there to be more attention to the county’s budget as customers begin noticing the county’s beverage tax, which goes into effect July 1.

If Chicago wants to address high unemployment rates among African-American men and youth, the private sector, sister agencies, and the county need to pitch in; that’s the takeaway aldermen were left with following a nearly three hour subject matter hearing Wednesday hosted by the Council’s Workforce Committee on addressing this longstanding problem, borne out of decades of disinvestment in predominantly Black communities.

Cook County Board members meet at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday: Suburban commissioners will consider a new PACE Board member, the son of veteran County Commissioner Al Carr; a number of health related legal settlements topping $700,000, and refer a ban on drones above county jails, hospitals, and the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) to committee. After the day’s proceedings, President Toni Preckwinkle “will address potential impacts on Cook County that would result from the proposed Trump budget.” Links to those ordinances are next to the meeting times. 

Technology Committee Chairman John Fritchey (D-12) called on tech officials from the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Sheriff’s Offices Tuesday to get to the bottom of why the two were falling behind on scheduled upgrades. The Clerk’s office–which is frequently criticized for its slow-moving, paper based process–blamed low staffing, legacy system problems, and a gap in communication with the Sheriff’s Office for a seven month delay.

For the third time this year, the Council’s Workforce Committee is scheduled to hold a subject matter hearing Wednesday on concerningly high unemployment rates among African American men and youth. No proposed code changes or funding plans for how the City Council could address this issue prompted today’s or the other two meetings held on this subject last month, just resolutions.

 



A Chicago Police Department official who heads CPD’s Community Relations Division told the Council’s Public Safety Committee that she was “not qualified to answer” an inquiry from an alderman on the status of the community oversight function planned as part of the city’s overall police reform efforts.

Tuesday will be a relatively routine day at the Cook County Board, as commissioners receive briefings on technology upgrades, consider 31 no-cash bid sale requests, and discuss pending litigation against the county (likely in executive session). Commissioners will kick off the day honoring wounded and ill armed services veterans on “Silver Star Service Banner Day” during the consent calendar meeting.

A federal grant program that helps cities combat violent gangs and curb illegal guns will be the subject of Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting.

The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce sent letters to the members of the Cook County Board and Board President Toni Preckwinkle Friday afternoon calling for a pause on implementation of both the county’s paid sick leave and sweetened beverage tax until January 1, describing implementation of the former as “piecemeal” and the latter “a mess”. The Preckwinkle administration says it has no intention of doing so.

I don't think Team Emanuel has a plan for getting Chicago Public Schools on its feet. Call it a hunch, because I don’t have anyone on the record to say that’s the case. But we have watched two years of hemming and hawing from Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his administration about funding CPS operations, and not much has changed in that time.

Last May we learned that the district would only have $24 million on hand at the end of their fiscal year, June 30, and that the schools would start their year with a $1.1 billion deficit. The solution involved a series of cuts, including to classroom services, some borrowing, and some money from the state. But then the state backed out of part of its funding package, due to a veto from Gov. Bruce Rauner, so CPS borrowed more money and made more cuts.

And still, CPS didn’t address its structural deficit problem, which after 2017’s cuts, is well over $500 million, maybe closer to $1 billion, analysts tell me. CPS also hasn’t come up with a solution to pay down its significant debt, which this month will rise to $8.1 billion. That’s more than 50% larger than the district’s $5.4 billion annual budget.

If you’re a Daily Line regular, you’ve read all of this before. I’m sorry for subjecting you to a repeat. But the details are just so mind blowing, it’s worth a reminder. (Also, another plug to our recent podcast episode: The CPS Funding Saga. It’s essentially an audio history of the rhetoric on CPS by the administration over the past three years and the confusion it has created among aldermen who are essentially kept in the dark.)

As Chicago’s schools lurched through its budget crisis, we’ve heard three solutions from Team Emanuel: borrow, make incremental cuts, and hope Springfield will give us some money.

The close of Springfield’s Spring Session without a budget deal (for the third year in a row!) should make it pretty clear: We’re not going to see anything from the state anytime soon. And then, Gov. Bruce Rauner really put the nail in the coffin Thursday when he told the Sun-Times he wouldn’t support and education funding bill that included $300 million for CPS. “The amendment on there really amounts to an unfair-to-Illinois-taxpayers bailout of CPS,” he said.

We know now: Rauner is committed to his plan of freezing property taxes, and other aspects of his Turnaround Agenda, and he’ll hold the budget hostage until he gets it or is voted out of office. As a result, we may not see a state budget or state money for CPS until after the November 2018 elections.

So what’s Team Emanuel’s solution?

Except for a promise to start school on time next September, we don’t know. Last week, before the Spring Session ended, Emanuel told reporters, “If you think in the final seven days I’m going to tell Springfield everything I’m going to do while they’re negotiating an education budget, you’ve got to get yourself another negotiator. That’d be the dumbest thing you can do.”

But now session's over, and we still don’t have a solution.

Back in April, aldermen who saw the writing on the wall–that the city is going to have to raise taxes and then make payments to CPS to keep it going–but were rebuffed by Team Emanuel for a briefing, started coming up with their own funding solutions. Some of the solutions, like a head tax and raiding unused Tax Increment Financing funds have majority support in Council. But unless Finance Committee Chairman Ed Burke (14) calls a vote (which he won’t without the mayor’s say-so) the ideas will never see daylight.

Then last week, members of the Progressive Caucus filed an order demanding outgoing Budget Director Alex Holt, CFO Carole Brown, and Treasurer Kurt Summers open up the books and show how much the city has in its TIF, Rainy Day, and investment holdings.

Not a peep from Team Emanuel in response.

When I spoke to Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey last month, he said he can’t take Mayor Emanuel seriously until he “commit[s] to raising half a billion dollars for the schools,” through local tax increases. The idea seemed shocking and radical to me at the time, but now, just a month later, I’m beginning to think it’s maybe the only solution available.

 



Aldermen on the city's Committee on Health and Environmental Protection lightly questioned officials from the Department of Fleet and Facility Management (2FM) and ComEd executives on Smart Meters and cybersecurity Thursday, pushing a hearing on President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency so late in the day that only three aldermen remained.

In 2016, fifteen aldermen on the City Council received income from an outside job, two aldermen had a family member contracted by the city, and one alderman owned eleven pieces of property. That information was revealed this week as aldermen rushed to file their annual financial interest statements with the city. All were required to submit the responses to the Board of Ethics by May 31.

 

The committee will first hear from ComEd officials on their annual franchise report and summer preparation at 11:00 a.m. Thursday. The annual briefings are required as part of the utility's franchise agreement with the city and includes a rundown of usage statistics for the year and updates on infrastructure improvements by a team of ComEd representatives and Fleet and Facility Management officials. ComEd’s contract with the city expires in 2020.

Federal grants used for affordable housing, capital projects, and public services operated by Chicago, Cook County and other municipalities are on the chopping block in President Donald Trump’s proposed budget.

With more than two-thirds of the city’s collective bargaining agreements scheduled to expire at the end of June, the city’s Inspector General has identified costly provisions the city should eliminate or amend at the negotiation table.