What’s wrong in Illinois? Look no further than Cook County!
COOK CO.—We’re in a serious financial state in Illinois, there’s no doubt about that. The state’s once again not making payments due toward counties and municipalities, thus putting all of us in a bind one way or the other as many of these entities are attempting to bring their FY 2011-12 budgets into line…because the counties are left with not much more option than to begin making serious cuts to services we’ve all gotten used to; cuts like considering closing down jails.
Such is not the case, however, in Cook County, where any cutbacks and layoffs are just token moves to appease critics and pretend there’s really some kind of immediate action going on. And remember, Cook is a county just like Saline or Lawrence or Gallatin. They provide services to their populace just like Jasper and Clay do to theirs; they operate jails just like Jefferson and Wabash. They have county hospitals just like…well, a lot of us have LOST our county-supported hospitals downstate, haven’t we?
Cook County Board Chair Toni Preckwinkle, in a photo shot by Chris Sweda of the Chicago Tribune and placed her per the Fair Use Act
But up in Cook, home to Chicago (the bane of every other speck of Illinois dirt), well, those things are just too important to begin shutting down.
At least administrative offices (taxpayer-supported, of course), are.
In an article found this morning in the Chicago Tribune, Cook County board chairperson Toni Preckwinkle is bemoaning and bewailing the loss of several jobs around the county as they are attempting to bring their budget under control, but she doesn’t seem to want to address that they’re way behind in making the planned 500+ they agreed to have accomplished by this time…so far, only 357 employees have been laid off.
Here’s the status of the healthcare/hospital system:
The administration did not provide specifics on how many more layoffs will take place and what departments they will hit, but one area where Preckwinkle wants to see more cuts is the county’s health and hospital system. Its independent governing board had anticipated 593 layoffs, but has only laid off 188 workers so far, according to the data.
“We anticipated that some employees would be transferred to vacant positions so the number may have been lower than originally projected,” Neves said in an email. “But we did not anticipate such a glaring discrepancy.”
From Sylvia Pulleyblank's Facebook. I think she cropped George Ivers outta that pic, which might be why it looks so...weird. That, or it's just Sylvia making it look weird.
“Some employees would be transferred to vacant positions”? That’s not a cut. That’s a SHELL GAME. Geez. Shades of Lawrence County Memorial. Somebody might wanna check with hospital admin and see if Sylvia Pulleyblank hasn’t gotten a job there.
The hospital system has been a frequent target of Preckwinkle’s in recent months as she looks to gain firmer control of county spending in her first year on the job. Health officials and Preckwinkle’s staff are haggling over the amount of taxpayer subsidy that will go to the health system next year. The health system’s chief financial officer has asked for $327.6 million, but Preckwinkle has said the county should give no more than $243 million.
Note in the article that there is no indication of how many ADMINISTRATIVE jobs they are reducing versus how many ESSENTIAL HEALTHCARE (you know…nurses, doctors, things of that nature….the people who REALLY take care of folks in hospitals) jobs are being cut.
Ms. Preckwinkle did indicate that her own staff has gone through a significant cut—92 jobs—at least we can hope that’s “significant”…how the hell many administrative positions does a county board chairperson’s office need, anyway? That’s one of those questions for the ages, but hey, this is Cook County we’re talking about here.
Whoops…WAIT. Here’s the problem:
Preckwinkle and her budget team are now putting the final touches on a proposed spending plan for next year as they aim to close a budget hole estimated at $315 million. Preckwinkle and her budget director have been meeting with unions, but both sides are remaining tight-lipped about whether county employees should brace themselves for further cuts. Preckwinkle earlier called layoffs “inevitable.”
Unions. Great. Whoever thought up the idea of having unions for PUBLIC SERVICE (READ: TAXPAYER-SUPPORTED) personnel should be drawn and quartered. Just my opinion, of course. You know, in White County, there are deputies that are making more than the county sheriff, no lie. The drain on the taxpayers is phenomenal, but hey, don’t get those union boys riled up!!
The situation isn’t getting any better in Illinois. It’s not going to help by putting folks into retirement, like one graph in the article shows is an intention of the county board….why? Because RETIREMENT of public officials is PAID FOR by TAXPAYERS, TOO. To see how much our state retirees receive off the sweat of our brows, one has no further to look than the Open the Books Portal, where Adam Andrzejewski has done all the hard work for us. You will be disgusted and amazed, we guarantee.
There’s no easy fix for this quandary we’re in financially, but taking under advisement, and attempting to carry out, a suggestion we heard Andrzejewski make this past Saturday makes incredible sense: a 30 percent across the board cut in salaries and retirements statewide. That would be an immediate fix. And if some of these retired state workers can’t make it on that kind of reduction, they can go out and get a job at WalMart as a door greeter, just like they expect us to do in order to keep their taxpayer-supported checks flowing.
Your thoughts on this are welcome; we’re too busy with the next print version to do much moderating, so have at it, as without our input we know sometimes the convo gets lively with those in support of big government…. 
Short URL: http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/?p=10056
Posted by Jack Howser
on Sep 28 2011. Filed under Breaking, Illinois.
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They sure are lookin out for all of us, here in southern IL…aren’t they? Guess they don’t call it the windy city for nothing!
I used to ask at every Dept of Corrections facility that I had occasion to visit “What percentage of your inmates come from Cook County?” and they all said “About 85%”. I don’t know how correct they were but that seemed to be the general concensus.
Anyone ever see what percentage of the Stimulus money went to Cook County? I don’t have the source but I was told that about 90% went to Cook and the counties that bordered it with one exception, there was a county near St. Louis that got a large share like Cook, Will, Dupage, etc did.
Unions were at one time needed but now there are laws on the books to prevent abuses like made unions necessary. Today unions are bullies and are the muscle for the Left. Please don’t tell me that they are needed to keep employers from shafting the “working man”, they have labor boards and civil courts to insure no working man’s rights are violated. I know of a police department in this region where many of the patrolmen are making $60,000 annually while the average income is less than $25,000 per year for the taxpayers. The chief of police is the very person that introduced the union to that county 20 years ago. That department is probably the most unprofessional department in the region, activities that would warrant termination at a decent department is common practice there.
The state employees should not be making twice or three times what the average citizen in the region makes, in many cases they make 4 times what an average laborer makes. Again, the unions have the state by the throat.
If you wanna see public corruption you dont have to go to Chicago nor Cook County it is all so so much closer. All you have to do is ask questions and people get REALLY pissed off!
I’ve heard that!! lol
ya its actually funny. One would think this is communist China over here in the Wayne Co Area…thus according to our secret service over at the Green Roof Inn
When I hear people say “Oh there is going to be a revolution in this country, we are fed up with this crap!” but then they stand around like sheep awaiting the slaughter when open corruption is pointed out to them and they say “Oh well..” I know, I pointed out about several instances of outright corruption in Lawrence County and I soon found out that the crooks had a lot more clout than I did. I thought that the people wanted someone that would do something about the corruption and would back me but apparently there were many that simply didn’t want the boat rocked.
That is exactly what happens in Wayne County as well…in my opinion we have a deputy who isn’t injured, getting paid, furthermore there is murders covered up and several drug crimes go un-noticed, mysterious things even happen to those who dare question the ones who are doing the corrupt activities