Division Street

“Besieged with negative press over a record-breaking $426 million sales tax increase, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s administration is forbidding department heads from speaking with the media unless his spokesman is present - an apparent effort to improve the news coverage of his administration,” Rob Olmstead reports in the Daily Herald.

So far it’s not working.

Making fun of Todd Stroger - even when laced with outrage - can become so entertaining and commonplace that we can lose sight of the stakes. Now we have a fresh look at Cook County finances that isn’t funny at all in the form of a credit report from Fitch Ratings.

“Even as controversy rages over Cook County’s big new sales tax hike, a major financial ratings service is warning that the county’s fiscal picture is darkening and suggests that a sales-tax increase now may not have been a good idea,” Crain’s reported on the Fitch analysis last week.

“In a statement issued late Tuesday, Fitch Ratings moved its outlook for about $3 billion in Cook County debt from ’stable’ to ‘negative, a step short of an actual rating downgrade that would increase the county’s costs of borrowing.”

That’s a cost that taxpayers bear.

“The New York firm cited weakening county finances, structural deficits in the county’s massive health system and ‘an increasingly high-tax environment for retail sales in a down economy.’

“Fitch is not taking a position on the public policy question of whether the county should or should not have raised its sales tax from 0.75% to 1.75%, says Melanie A. J. Shaker, a Fitch director who was the lead analyst on the report. But she says the agency is questioning the viability of the levy given that, in the midst of an economic downturn, combined with the city sales tax, Chicago now has the highest rate in the country, at 10.25%.”

Here are some highlights from the Fitch analysis itself.

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Your window into Cook County government. That’s right, it’s blank.

This just came in over the transom.

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PRESIDENT TODD H. STROGER’S STATEMENT CONCERNING THE SALES TAX

For Immediate Release
James Ramos, Press Secretary
Attention: News Assignment
312-603-0365
jaramos@cookcountygov.com

The government of Cook County is mandated by the state of Illinois to provide an array of services to its citizens. Governments throughout the nation, and in the state of Illinois, have imposed taxes to combat the rise in costs and cuts made by the federal government. The state of Illinois just recently raised its sales tax a quarter (1/4) of a percent to meet transportation costs.

The federal government’s cuts in Medicaid and Medicare will result in the Cook County Bureau of Health losing over 500 million dollars over the next five years.

Cook County offers other essential services that must be provided as mandated by the state of Illinois. These services include, but are not limited to, the Recorder of Deeds; State’s Attorney’s office; Sheriff’s office; Assessors office; the Circuit Court of Cook County; Board of Elections; Public Defender’s office; Animal Control; Board of Review; Treasurer’s office; the Medical examiner’s office; the Chief Judge’s office; the County Clerk’s office, and the Public Guardian’s office.

In the passing of the FY2008 Budget, the Cook County Board of Commissioners made a fiscally sound decision by increasing revenue to ensure that these services would not be interrupted.

This new revenue increases the sales tax by 1 percent, or “one penny on a dollar.” This tax is the only new tax increase passed by the board in the FY2008. This tax does NOT affect Real Estate Property Taxes – or anything attached with a TITLE. It is important to remember that this sales tax does NOT apply to goods, particularly groceries items such as food, milk and meats, prescription drugs, medicines and medical supplies.

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Also, the new tax will fund more press releases like this one.

The Tribune editorial page today reminds readers of the “Stroger-Daley Tax” that goes into effect on Tuesday.

(Why not the Daley-Stroger Tax? Without Daley, the tax doesn’t happen; without Stroger, it does.)

The paper includes a graphic comparing our new 10.25 percent sales tax burden to other area communities.

What the Trib didn’t do was break down the sales tax and show what our money will be funding. Fortunately, the Division Street accounting department had some free time this morning and crunched the numbers. Here’s what they found:

* Richard M. Daley Defense Fund: 3 percent

* Diversion of funds to Richard M. Daley campaign fund: 1 percent

* John Daley insurance fees: 1 percent

* Michael Daley legal fees: 1 percent

* Bill Daley sympathy fund for being the smart one: 2 percent

* Todd Stroger Friends & Family Plan: .5 percent

* Walkaround money: .5 percent

* Raise to David Axelrod: .5 percent

* Cook County Democratic Party Swiss bank account: .5 percent

* Funds to tear down the Swallow Cliff toboggan slide: .25 percent

How do you know when Todd Stroger is making a fool of himself? When his mouth moves.

“As you may recall, in the summer and fall of 2006, I campaigned for the office of Cook County board president and promised to create an independent governance structure for the county’s health care system, to place the county’s juvenile temporary detention center under the authority of the chief judge and to reform and empower the office of the inspector general,” Stroger said on Thursday.

Daily Herald writer Rob Olmstead writes: “Well, one out of three ain’t bad. Stroger never promised the first two. In fact, in a Daily Herald campaign questionnaire dated September 2006, Stroger was asked point blank about his willingness to turn over the health care system to an independent board.

“‘I believe that the county board and its president should maintain control over the Bureau of Health,’ he wrote.

“Additionally, Stroger never promised to turn over the juvenile detention center either. On his own campaign Web page, he wrote in 2006, ‘I am not ready to give up on the JTDC,’ and instead advocated ‘owning up to our own mistakes and fixing them ourselves.’

“Confronted with the discrepancy, Stroger spokesmen insisted the president was correct, even asserting there was documentation to prove it. By the end of the day, though, they reversed course.

“The president misspoke today,” a spokesman said.

Just like every other day.

“My two greatest passions combined,” Dan Sprehe, chief investigator for the BGA, writes to Division Street. “The only thing that would have exceeded it would have been a screen shot of Chief Wiggum or Mayor Quimby.”

From the BGA’s press release:

“A Better Government Association (BGA) investigation, in partnership with Fox-Chicago, shows Cook County has failed to live up to its own laws for tracking and managing its large fleet of vehicles. The bills for those vehicles, their maintenance, and their expensive gasoline are paid by Cook County taxpayers, already struggling to fill their own gas tanks.”

From the Fox Chicago report “Cook County Loses Track of County Cars and Who’s Driving Them“:

“We’re just days away from the new Cook County sales tax going into effect and new questions are being raised about the county’s ability to manage its budget. A Fox News investigation with the Better Government Association found the county can’t tell us how many cars it owns or who’s driving them. It’s been three years since the county last accounted for. As Dane Placko reports, the county isn’t following its own legal requirements.”

If Cook County needs a new revenue stream, it ought to consider making reality TV series’ out of various aspects of its operations. For example, home renovation shows are hotter than an overburdened Cook County taxpayer right now, and a perfect opportunity has presented itself. I bring you:

The Cook County Criminal Courts Administration Building Kitchen Renovation project!

That’s right. A kitchen makeover at the, um, CCCAB is well underway - the change orders are already rolling in.

Here’s the agenda of that just came out from the Construction Committee - surely a fine source of subplots and treachery:

JUNE 24, 2008 NOTICE

“The recessed meeting of the Construction Committee of June 24, 2008 of the Board of Commissioners of Cook County will reconvene on Tuesday, July 1, 2008 at the hour of 9:30 A.M. in the Board Room, Room 569, County Building, 118 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois to consider the following:

294361 OFFICE OF CAPITAL PLANNING AND POLICY, by Bruce Washington, Director, transmitting a Communication, dated May 2, 2008:

transmitted herewith for your approval is Change Order No. 6 in the amount of $174,215.09 to the contract with Simpson Construction Company, Bellwood, Illinois, contractor for the Cook County Criminal Courts Administration Building Kitchen Renovation project. It is respectfully requested that this Honorable Body approve this request.

Reason: This change order provides for the rebuilding and removal of existing molded walls and corroded metal studs per industry standards, replacement of all corroded electrical conduits within the wall and the installation of an additional layer of waterproofing membrane and epoxy grouting.

Epoxy grouting! Gripping!

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One reader asked why I didn’t include All of the Above. Because I wanted to make you choose! Thanks, everyone.

And he’s in top form. Let’s take a look.

“Stroger, who remained unflappable, said ‘people don’t trust politicians,’” the Tribune reports, ‘and that’s they way this job works.’”

No, that’s how the job doesn’t work. Just ask the governor.

But it was Robert Simon who was the big hit.

“Dr. Robert Simon, former interim chief of the massive county Health Services Bureau, defended the county.

“‘I think it’s absolutely stunning to see what is done with $3 billion,’ he said. ‘It’s absolutely amazing to me.’

“His argument was met with laughter from the crowd.”

Which momentarily made them forget they once paid Simon’s mileage to and from his Michigan home - and they’re still paying (twice what was previously acknowledged) for his services.

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