'Historic' day in county?

Daily Southtown

February 25, 2005

By Jonathan Lipman

The Cook County Board on Thursday put the finishing touches on a budget that slashed $73 million from President John Stroger's proposal and did not impose new taxes.

Commissioners approved the $2.9 billion budget after a grueling two days of meetings.

While Stroger (D-Chicago) renewed his threat to veto cuts during the meeting, he backed off later, saying he would consult with lawyers and with the chief of county health services before deciding what to do.

"There are always cuts that can be made in any budget. The question becomes what kind of impact will these cuts have," Stroger said. "But you don't want a big fight for no reason. If I find out that this thing can work successfully, I don't need to veto."

Commissioners plugged most of the budget hole in a 14-hour session Wednesday night. They returned Thursday and within hours sewed up the remaining $14.4 million. The biggest cut Thursday was proposed by Stroger and came from money set aside for union negotiations.

Finance committee John Daley (D-Chicago) did not even call to the floor the taxes on hotels, restaurants and coin-operated games proposed by Stroger last month.

Stroger admitted afterward the months-long budget battle had been "a rough one."

"It's been a long time since I've been in a budget fight that took so much out of me," Stroger said.

Stroger's last-ditch effort to stop $17 million in cuts to the bureau of health came at the beginning of Thursday's meeting when he asked bureau director Daniel Winship to outline the service cuts planned.

After Winship said he would close clinics and reduce funding for mammograms and surgeries, commissioners reacted angrily to what they called a scare tactic motivated purely by politics.

"That is the most pathetic campaign," Commissioner Earlean Collins (D-Chicago), a one-time Stroger supporter, told the embattled president. "I was going to support your taxes, but not any more. Why? Because I'm tired of this game."

Collins, a swing voter who both sides have courted, also threw back in Stroger's face his Wednesday threat to go to court to block the cuts.

"You are not going to cut those programs that you're talking about. You know why? Because we will definitely take you to court," Collins said. "You will not balance this budget on the backs of poor people and critical services. You won't do that."

Other commissioners blasted Winship for saying he would cut services instead of bureaucracy. The clinics he named for closure all lie in districts represented by commissioners opposing Stroger.

"I'm not as convinced as you are that there is fat in our system," Winship said.

Last year, reform-minded commissioners blocked some of Stroger's tax proposals but not others. They said this year's rebellion against the longtime president could open the door to other changes in a government historically perceived as bloated and a haven for patronage workers.

"It's a new day in county government," said Commissioner Elizabeth Gorman (R-Orland Park). The rubber stamps are gone."

"There's a great sense of satisfaction," said Commissioner Mike Quigley (D-Chicago), the first Democrat to break ranks with Stroger. "Anything can happen now."

The Civic Federation, a local government watchdog group that has frequently criticized the county, also called the day historic. Research director Lise Valentine said the group was delighted with the outcome but thinks the county still has a lot of work to do to prepare for a projected $190 million deficit for 2006.

"For next year, they really need to focus on headcount," Valentine said.

The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce released a statement praising the no-new-taxes budget.

Unions probably will be less happy. Stroger's $11 million chop hit funds reserved for anticipated cost-of-living increases the county may be forced to pay in union negotiations.

The director of one union with 2,000 county employees said cutting that fund - still at $22 million after Stroger's cut - will make negotiations with the county "difficult, but not impossible."

"That means no increase for the employees," said Leonard Simpson of the Service Employees International Union Local 73. "That amount of money ... 65 cents per hour is nothing compared to the thousands of dollars these commissioners receive."

Copyright 2005, Daily Southtown

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