Balancing the budget; what will we cut?

It will be interesting to see just how Cook County government manages to balance out their budget for the upcoming fiscal year; what with the fact they now have a $200 million hole.

PRECKWINKLE: Looking for pop tax alternative

That is the amount of money the county would have expected to receive from the soon-to-be defunct pop tax, the penny-per-ounce charge on purchases of pop and other sweetened drinks.

AFTER NOV. 30, that tax won’t exist. So when the new fiscal year begins Dec. 1, there’s going to be a short-fall in anticipated revenue.

Are we merely going to see the county try to concoct some sort of alternative tax to replace the revenue they were expecting to get from the pop drinkers of the Chicago area? Or are we going to get some county agencies and programs get their funding levels cut to the point where essential services will be slashed?

County board President Toni Preckwinkle hinted throughout the barrage of propaganda put out by the American Beverage Association against the pop tax that health care services the county provides would suffer.

But Cook County Board members largely were not swayed by such arguments. In voting overwhelmingly to repeal the same pop tax that many of them voted last year to implement, they called Preckwinkle’s bluff.

TOBOLSKI: Eager to slash Cook budget

THEY’RE GAMBLING THAT there really is enough “fat” in government budgets that things can be cut without impacting essential services.

Either that, or they simply don’t care, or consider those services to be essential to them. They may just not care about the kind of people who actually have to rely on Cook County-funded services to maintain their health.

That certainly was the sentiment of county Commissioner Jeffery Tobolski, R-McCook, who earlier this week said he looks forward to cutting the county budget. “What we have (in revenue) is what we have to work with,” he said. “There are some tough decisions that have to be made.”

SUFFREDIN: Fears future tax hikes

Of course, the counter-point to that view was expressed by Commissioner Larry Suffredin, D-Evanston, who was one of two commissioners (the other being Jerry “the Iceman” Butler, D-Chicago) to vote against repealing the pop tax.

IN A STATEMENT he issued following the Cook County Board’s vote on Wednesday, he pointed out that one part of the pop tax was a promise that Cook County government wouldn’t consider raising any more taxes until at least 2020.

A move he said would have provided significant benefits to people living in the county. Now, they could face whatever alternate tax hike county officials concoct in their minds to try to make up for the revenue lost from the pop tax, which is necessary because, he claims, Illinois government owes Cook County some $186 million in reimbursements it hasn't been making -- which accounts for nearly the entire hole in the county budget.

In my mind, different taxes is a scary thought – one far more onerous than the roughly 20 cents extra I was paying any time I purchased a bottle of Coca-Cola (something I indulge in maybe twice a week).

BUTLER: Voted for pop tax AND against repeal

So now, county officials have the rest of October and November to figure out how to put together a budget that doesn’t leave Cook County government in serious debt come Nov. 30, 2018.

I KNOW COOK County Treasurer Maria Pappas said she offered up her portion of the county budget with a 10 percent cut in everything, and expects she’s now going to have to slash every line-item in her budget by another 2 percent.

Whether enough other officials are capable of taking such a hardline approach is questionable – I suspect many are trying to figure out what alternate item could be taxed. Of course, it has to be something that most people would feel wouldn’t impact them.

Anti-taxer mailings to pressure county commissioners continue, as now the activist-types want to ensure their desired spending cuts get imposed when the Cook County Board approves its 2018 budget sometime next month

Perhaps that is why some have suggested that the medical marijuana purchases now becoming common in parts of our state are a more acceptable item to tax.

It seems the image some people have of “deadheads” being forced to pay up is more acceptable to them than themselves having to pay whenever they buy a bottle of that beverage whose original recipe included a jolt from the coca leaf. Why else would we call it “Coke?”

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EXTRA: When “present” means “yes”

I once had an editor-type person whose hard-and-fast rule was to tell us reporter-types that a “present” vote is the same as a “no” vote.

FRITCHEY: Opposes political "plums"



After all, the number of “yes” votes it takes to approve something doesn’t change. A “present” vote does not add to the “yes” column. So it is just a weasel-ish way for political people to avoid taking a hard stand on an issue.

WHILE I AGREE with that particular editor’s concept that political people are capable of behaving in a weasel-ly manner, it seems that “present” doesn’t always mean “no.”

For the Cook County Board on Wednesday literally gave us an instance where “present” meant “yes” without actually having to take the embarrassment that a “yes” vote would have caused in this particular circumstance.

The specific instance was a measure meant to cut the compensation provided to the county’s Zoning Board of Appeals – which oversees zoning matters in unincorporated parts of Cook County.

The measure passed, but there was one part of it that failed – the idea that individual zoning board members should be limited to $20,000 per year for their work rather than the $12,000 limit that other such boards get.

THE IDEA WAS that the zoning board usually has more meetings in a given year, and should get more overall (even though the base of $500 per member per meeting would be applied to all appointees – regardless of board).

SCHNEIDER: Changing a "Y" to a "P"



In the end, the county rejected the $20,000 limit and went with the $12,000 limit – even though some said that might mean the zoning board would hold fewer hearings; which would require some people to travel farther to have their issues dealt with.

That $20,000 limit had five supporters and nine critics, with one county commissioner (Joan Patricia Murphy of suburban Crestwood) voting “present.”

Yet once the clerk announced the 5-9 vote, two of the commissioners who spoke out in favor of a $20,000 limit suddenly said they wanted their votes changed to “present.”

IT SEEMS THEY don’t want to be on the losing side of an issue. They probably didn’t want some future opponent concocting some nonsense campaign ad saying they voted to pay more money for positions that, by their own admission, were “political plums” used to reward friends.

BUTLER: The Iceman becomes Mr. Pro-bono?



So the vote went into the books as a 3-9 vote, with three others present. John Fritchey, D-Chicago, and Timothy Schneider, R-Elk Grove Village, were the two last-minute changers whose “present” vote shouldn’t be taken as opposition to the idea that these political appointees probably don’t need to be relying on the county for their health insurance or any additional credits towards their eventual pension.

Although I’m convinced the most honorable individual on the county board on Wednesday might well have been Commissioner Jerry “the Iceman” Butler. For he was the one who voted against everything on the grounds that none of these positions should be salaried, or per diemed, or compensated in any way!

“Pro bono. Nada,” said the man who gave us, “For Your Precious Love,” before adding, “They should all be pro bono.”

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EXTRA: County quips. Or, 'Battle of the Board?' Political humor at work

The Cook County Board on Tuesday felt like a comedy club of sorts (perhaps a really dorky one).

GAINER: A movie buff?



For while the lengthy session included its share of acrimonious debate, there also was more than its share of commissioners trying to show off their humor with attempts at pithy quips.

SO MUCH SO that I can’t decide who is worthy of “Quip of the Day” honors. Perhaps it is something that you should decide, after reading what passes for our politicians trying to tell a joke.



Take Commissioner Bridget Gainer, who listened to debate over a measure requiring contractors doing business with county government to report any malfeasance they encounter on the job.



When told the only way to truly get rid of corruption would be to create a separate law enforcement agency devoted to policing government officials.

To which Gainer said, “I’m fighting back the urge to say, ‘we don’t need no stinkin’ badges’.” Somebody’s seen The Treasure of the Sierra Madre just a few times too many.

BUTLER: All knowing?

THEN, THERE WAS debate on a measure creating an advisory committee for the county’s Juvenile Detention Center. Commissioner Jerry Butler doesn’t like the idea, which put him in the minority of the county board.



Which doesn’t surprise “the Iceman,” who said, “I’m used to losing around here because I come from a strange place. A place called ‘common sense’.”

That remark irked Commissioner John Daley, who said, “I think common sense does prevail here” in the county board. You decide which one is more in touch with reality.

GORMAN: A diagnosis?

The county board also approved a resolution praising the 50^th wedding anniversary of a couple who happens to be Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski’s in-laws.

THE RESOLUTION INCLUDED a reference about how they watch their son-in-law on cable access television.

Which caused Commissioner Elizabeth Doody Gorman to say, “those poor people, after 50 years, they must have insomnia.”

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EXTRA: Everybody doesn’t hate Todd

Sometimes, I think people need to be reminded that their distaste for Cook County Board President Todd Stroger is not universal.

The man will have some support come next year’s election, and the trick is whether that support will be sufficient in a field with several candidates splitting up the vote.

SADLY ENOUGH, IT has become a racially motivated thing, as many of Stroger’s votes will come from people who perceive the upcoming campaign session as an excuse to take away a political office from an African-American male.

For those who would like to think that we’re beyond all that as a society, we’re probably not.

I couldn’t help but notice a couple of fellow African-American officials on the Cook County Board who, during the nearly two hours of debate concerning the sales tax issue, came to Stroger’s defense.

“You haven’t been a bad president in terms of trying to do things to benefit people,” said Commissioner Earlean Collins. “You get a bad shake, there’s no denying it.”

AGREEING WAS COMMISSIONER Jerry “the Iceman” Butler, who told Stroger he likes him personally, but is backing another candidate for county board president next year because, “the press has done a job on him, he’ll never get out from under it.”

For the record, Butler was among the four commissioners who backed Stroger with his vote on the veto override, while Collins was one of the 13 who voted against Stroger’s interests.

As she explained it, “You have to go and give (people) what they want, even if it’s not the best thing.”

Which reminds me of a line that once came from the mouth of former Illinois Senate President James “Pate” Philip, R-Wood Dale, in explaining why he voted to lower the legal standard for intoxication to 0.08 after years of opposing it. “Sometimes, you have to do what the people want,” he said.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: For those who haven’t read it anywhere else, a brief account of how Todd Stroger (http://nwitimes.com/news/local/illinois/article_d737cc6a-9416-5a33-9aff-5789ef92d83f.html) prevailed yet again on the sales tax decrease issue.

COUNTY BORED: How old is too old?

Is Cook County Commissioner Jerry Butler aging himself just a bit too much with his wisecrack Thursday about retiring broadcast newsman Art Norman.

The longtime reporter and news anchor for NBC-owned WMAQ-TV announced his retirement two months ago, but the Cook County Board took it upon themselves to pass a resolution praising Norman’s contributions to the Chicago-area.

MOST OF THE county officials’ witticisms were along the lines of comments from Commissioner Earlean Collins, who said Norman’s polite demeanor ought to be taught to all kinds of news reporter-types.

Then, there was the comment from Butler, who gets our “Quote of the Day” honors for the way in which he tried to say that Norman has been around Chicago for a long time (since 1982, to be exact).

Only it came out of Butler’s mouth as follows:

“Whenever I see one of you young guys retiring, it reminds me how old I’m getting. I remember when you weren’t here.”

FOR THE RECORD, Butler is three decades older than Jack Benny’s perpetual age of 39.

The "Iceman's" birthday is Dec. 8.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Needless to say, many of the people who had nothing better to do with themselves two months ago than to take anonymous cheap shots at Art Norman (http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/05/wmaqtvs-art-norman-retires.html) on the Internet will disagree with the thought that went behind the county board’s resolution praising the broadcaster’s career.