In a victory for good government, the Cook County Board of Commissioners on June 1, 2010 voted 13-3 to make permanent the independent Board of Directors overseeing the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (Health System). Without action by Commissioners, the independent Board would have expired in February of 2011. The Civic Federation, a long-time supporter of the independent Board, was the only group testifying in favor of making it a permanent part of Cook County government. The Civic…
The ordinance that established the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (Health System) in 2008 specifically granted its independent Board of Directors the authority to participate in purchasing consortia. At a meeting on April 30, 2010, the Board reaffirmed its right to award a contract through such a purchasing group, despite objections from two Commissioners of the Cook County Board. The contract before the Health System’s Board involved the provision of laundry and linen services at…
On February 2, 2010 Illinois will hold its primary election. The position of Cook County Board President and all Cook County Commissioner seats are on the ballot. Many issues pertaining to Cook County government have been debated during this election cycle, including the repeal of the entire sales tax increase approved by the Board of Commissioners in 2008 and the future of the County’s health and hospital system. Another issue that has been raised during debates is whether a separate board of…
The redesign of the Civic Federation website in July has provided the public, government officials, and the media better access to the Federation’s analyses of government services in Illinois. The regularly-updated Civic Federation blog especially has provided a constant source of information on the issues that the Federation covers, including local budgets and pensions, taxes, privatization and asset leases, and commentary on events in the news. Blog posts about local government budgets…
The Civic Federation commends the Cook County Board for voting 12-5 to roll back half of last year’s one percentage point sales tax hike and for overriding President Todd Stroger’s veto. The Federation considers this a victory for overburdened County taxpayers and for the County businesses that have suffered as a result of the tax. The Civic Federation has long opposed the unnecessary sales tax increase and has repeatedly called for its repeal, most recently in our analysis of…
Last week Cook County released its FY2010 budget and will conclude its public hearing schedule nine business days after the budget’s release. At a minimum, the public should be afforded a review period of ten working days before public testimony is heard, not as a conclusion to the hearing schedule. The County’s accelerated public hearings schedule does not allow members of the public a reasonable amount of time to review the budget document and plan to attend one of the public hearings. The…
The Civic Federation opposes Cook County’s $3.0 billion FY2010 operating budget because it is predicated on the continuation of an unnecessary one percentage point sales tax increase and provides limited evidence of cost-saving efficiencies or structural reforms. In contrast, the Cook County Health and Hospital System is proposing efficiencies and eliminating vacant and non-front line positions. In the report the Federation calls on the Cook County Board of Commissioners to make the independent…
This is a summary of the survey and analysis of local government assessing practices and procedures regarding the granting of property tax exemptions to nonprofit organizations. The report includes information drawn from a survey of 438 assessing offices nationwide in 40 states.
