On Tuesday, December 20 Cook County commissioners spent one hour listening to people argue for— or against—raising the levy from the 9.9 percent commissioners had approved the week before. When it was all said and done, commissioners voted 5-0 to increase the levy to 11.2 percent for 2017.
Last week, in front of a packed commissioners’ room, the Cook County commissioners voted 3-2 to set the levy increase at 9.9 percent for 2017, dropping it from 19.88 percent and ending, it seemed, a contentious budget period.
Voting against that 10 percent drop were commissioners Jan Sivertson and county board chair Heidi Doo-Kirk, and Doo-Kirk wasn’t happy with the vote.
Doo-Kirk took to the radio airwaves the following day and said that if the levy stayed at 9.9 percent, the county might have to cut 8-10 jobs, as well as defund the senior citizens’ organization and so on. On that WTIP broadcast, Doo-Kirk urged voters who supported the 19.88 percent levy to attend the next Tuesday commissioners’ meeting scheduled for December 20. And come they did. But so too, were the supporters of the 9.9 percent tax which came out again to express, in 2 minutes or less, their disdain for the higher levy.
What followed was one hour of sometimes heated, sometimes very emotional, testimony from citizens concerned with the way the county allocated its dollars and to what those dollars were allocated to. In the backdrop of all of this were the people who came before the board with complaints about the rise in their property taxes, a separate but troubling issue for many who don’t see an increase in personal income or in the services offered by the county, as they stated to the board.
After the public left the county board returned to its regular business before breaking for lunch. Coming back the county board proceeded to examine the budget once again, this time starting from the previous 19.9 levy and working their way down through departments and non-discretionary funding to find ways to reduce the budget.
During the negotiations, the regular step increases and health insurance policies were left alone for most employees.
For instance, the commissioners took back their motion to add back the $122,458 in the general revenue fund balance they used last year to bring the levy to 8.5 percent. At $70,000 per levy point, that was almost two points by itself.
All of the discretionary spending for the 18 nonprofits that receive funds from the county was cut 10 percent. Last year these groups (WTIP, G.M. Playhouse, Birch Grove School, Higher Ed., Art Colony, Legal Aid, Senior Center, etc.) received $170,500. For 2017 the combined request was $252,600, but when 10 percent across the board cuts were made, the commissioners had reduced the total to be distributed to $147,600.
The YMCA was cut from $145,000 to $110,000 while the Grand Marais Library ($156,591) and the Cook County/Grand Marais EDA ($386,290) received all of the funds they requested for 2017.
Cook County Soil and Water was cut from $58,989 to $36,239, and the Cook County Historical Society’s $62,500 request was lowered to $45,000.
The Cook County Highway Department received a $302,697 (16.53 percent) increase but initially was slated to receive almost $200,000 more for equipment replacement. Cut from the highway department was $140,000 for calcium chloride, $8,000 for signs, $7,000 for a Trimble purchase, and $67,500 for a highway grader, which will be purchased (or leased) in 2018.
With commissioners slated to pay 20 percent more for their health insurance $10,522 was added back to the budget, and with the department heads and other non-union empoyees agreeing to pay 20 percent more next year for their health insurance, the county saved another $56,000.
When it was all said and done commissioners voted 5-0 to set the 2017 levy increse at 11.2175 percent. The county will collect $7,863,947 from Cook County taxpayers, an increase of $793,167 from the 2016 levy of $7,070,780.
The county must send its budget to the state by December 28, 2016.
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