I know it’s next to impossible to change people or make them realize things they don’t want to see. Such appears to be the case with Cook County’s administrator. After all, we’ve had four years to observe how he operates …his modus operandi.
The Budget Process …
Given we are in the middle of another budget season, consider his approach to the budget process:
“And the goal shouldn’t be what’s our percent levy increase, the goal should be about the expenditure budget and the revenues and the fact that the levy is the one thing that we really have control over and here’s what the numbers gonna take to solve the puzzle.
“When I was budgeting for cities, I simply laid out the revenues, the expenditures, our debt service, our enterprise funds and I took out the levy number completely and I got down to the bottom and basically, [when] you got down to the bottom you had a negative number, and that’s the number you had to turnaround and put up here in your levy to solve for zero. And that’s how you solve for zero.” –Jeff Cadwell, June 20, 2017, Committee of the Whole budget discussion
He’s wrong …
There are multiple things fiscally responsible decision makers have control over; however, he doesn’t see what he doesn’t want to see. Just look at other counties and you will see the conspicuous difference.
Other counties often freeze their levy by reducing department budgets by a certain percentage, electing to lower their workforce through attrition and by not funding organizations that are not part of their primary responsibility as elected officials.
Such options are not even on the radar for this administrator.
The Levy …
“So, our budget expenditures are not out of control. On average they’ve gone up 3.1 percent annually for 28 years. And our levy is not out of control; on average it’s gone up 4.3 percent annually. So, when people in the community are saying, ‘How come we got increases more than three or four percent,’ we don’t, when we look at them over a period of time.
“When we look at the numbers, spending is not out of control. And the levy is not out of control.” –Jeff Cadwell, June 20, 2017, Committee of the Whole budget discussion
He’s wrong.
“If it weren’t for past commissioners doing their job …actually making the tough decisions over those 28 years, the levy wouldn’t have averaged 4.3 percent.”
Fact is, since Cadwell has orchestrated the county’s budget process we have ranked number 1 or 2 among the state’s 86 counties when it comes to setting the highest levy in the state!
Historically, the top combined three successive years of Cook County levies are 2016 (8.50 percent), 2017 (11.22 percent) and 2018 (17.46 percent) . . . not so coincidently, the years Mr. Cadwell has been Cook County’s administrator.
2016 through 2018 witnessed the biggest jump in money spent by Cook County commissioners—$ 2.1 million—in comparison to any other three-year period over the past 30 years.
Be accountable; take responsibility.
I have not witnessed Mr. Cadwell making any tough decisions during his tenure as Cook County’s administrator. It would be an incredible revelation were he to actually name one.
He has stated publicly that when it comes to the levy he is not “responsible for any of this.” Does he not listen to himself coaxing commissioners?
Leadership positions typically have followers and believe me, this group of elected officials follows his lead.
Mr. Cadwell’s excuse is to put his unchecked spending on the budget decisions of previous boards, claiming they used monies from the county’s reserve fund. Yet the board of commissioners, under his leadership, chose to use fund balance to reduce the levy in 2019.
I guess it’s okay when he does it.
Be a good listener; responsive to public concerns…
Cadwell, referring to citizens within the community who challenge him: “Not one of those people has ever taken the opportunity to come and have a conversation with me. People in this community will talk about people, they will not talk to people.” –April 1, 2019, WTIP interview
He’s wrong.
A number of citizens have appeared during public comment, town hall meetings, Committee of the Whole meetings and Truth-in-Taxation meetings to talk directly to Cadwell and the board. Others have gone to his office or contacted him by phone, only to encounter an administrator who doesn’t listen, doesn’t respond, doesn’t provide answers, and doesn’t follow up.
Make sound judgments and decisions …
There are a number of examples where Cadwell’s reasoning and analytical skills have failed him. When others question the obvious, he acknowledges, “There are reasons why people may be skeptical.” His response to those who would question his assumptions, “What we did not do is, we did not have that conversation or give that argument any voice.”–March 21, 2019, public meeting regarding the proposed Law Enforcement/Jail expansion
He’s wrong …
His indifferent reaction is to be expected. Recall his directive to commissioners during the 2018 Committee of the Whole budget discussion: “Anything that happens can’t be a result of outside pressure.”
Keep the county board fully advised …
When Cadwell publicly declared, during the January 9, 2018, commissioner board meeting, that employees will now be paying 20 percent of the cost for their healthcare premiums, he didn’t divulge the fact that commissioners agreed to increase county employees’ wages to cover the cost of the increased premium contribution.
Three of the five commissioners had not read or understood the terms of the contracts prior to voting to approve.
In fact, the county’s Personnel Committee knew nothing of the scope of the wage increases. Details came to light following ratification by an uninformed board!
He’s wrong …
An administrator’s primary role is to be open and candid and share information that will enable elected officials to make informed decisions.
Mr. Cadwell keeps numbers deliberately vague, hard to track, or just plain incomplete. Consequently, elected officials and citizens are at a huge disadvantage as it is extremely difficult, or even impossible, to dig out the data needed to thoroughly understand the county’s operations or budgeting practices.
One day he’ll realize he is and was wrong. But that’s for him to figure out. Until that day arrives, anyone who has concluded Jeff Cadwell, as administrator, is wrong for Cook County…would be right!
Former Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble is writing this ongoing column about the various ways government works, as well as other topics. At times the column is editorial in nature.
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