Commish: 'There's a crisis coming'
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Daily Southtown
By Jonathan Lipman, Staff writer
June 14, 2006
Officials say revenue off $40 million at midyear point
Cook County's revenue problem has more than doubled, leaving
the county about $40 million behind with half the fiscal year
gone, county officials said.
Official numbers are expected to be released next week, but
commissioners Mike Quigley and Gregg Goslin said they've been
told that revenue is so far behind the budget estimate that
it's a "serious problem" in the eyes of the county's
financial team.
County Comptroller Walter Knorr, while declining to release
official numbers early, said Quigley was "in the ballpark."
"There's a crisis coming because at the first-quarter hearing
(about finances), I said we should act now or else our actions
would have to be more dramatic," Quigley (D-Chicago) said.
"Now, it's too damn late."
Last month, budget officials said Cook County was about $16
million below its estimated revenue for the first four months
of its $3 billion 2006 budget. The biggest problem was hospital
revenue, which was $26 million behind, they said, and cigarette-tax
revenue, after a one-time boost, also was running low.
Quigley said he has been told that the county, as of the end
of May, was between $33 million and $44 million behind in revenue.
Goslin (R-Glenview) said he was told the number will be more
than $40 million.
At a hearing last month, county health bureau chief Daniel Winship
said he believed the county's hospitals and clinics would "make
up the gap" in revenue because new billing contracts were
signed in April. It hasn't happened, Goslin said.
"Dr. Winship said it would get better, and it's getting
markedly worse," he said.
Health bureau spokeswoman Rendy Jones did not return a call
for comment. Knorr declined to discuss hospital revenue.
Quigley and Goslin said the looming fiscal crisis makes it even
more imperative that ailing board president John Stroger return
to work or transfer his powers to someone else.
"There's no one at the helm," Goslin said. "Even
the Titanic had a captain."
Stroger has not been seen publicly since he suffered a serious
stroke March 14. Aides insist he remains in charge of county
government and is making decisions, but there are persistent
reports that he may be too ill to do so.
Commissioner Larry Suffredin (R-Evanston) wants the county board
to pass an ordinance at its June 20 meeting that would let Stroger
voluntarily step down, at least temporarily, while maintaining
his pay and benefits. Commissioner Bobbie Steele (D-Chicago),
a Stroger support who wants to be the interim president, said
Monday that Stroger should step aside and focus on healing.
"There's options for dealing with this (budget crisis),
but choosing those options is a decision that an elected official
should make, not a chief of staff," Quigley said, referring
to Stroger aide James Whigham, who has run day-to-day operations
in Stroger's absence. "Do you close clinics ... do you
pay down the fund balance, which can hurt your credit rating?"
Goslin said he believes that even if Cook County can weather
the storm this year, budgeting for 2007 will be very difficult.
Last month, budget officials predicted a minimum budget deficit
of $163 million for next year.
"We haven't even accounted for the new (labor) contracts,"
Goslin said, adding that the projected 2007 budget deficit has
to be "upwards of $250 million or more. ... The finance
people need to get this together, and they're going to need
direction."
