On the County Side

Prickwrinkle is looking at a $200 million shortfall...minimum. We got this from one of our many County readers:

• In 2017, well before COVID hit and just before the clusterfuck that was the "pop tax," CCDOC officers signed a contract with the county board. Not including some gains they made in language to the Contract, on the financial side (the side negotiated with Preckwinkle not Dart), they agreed to defer step increases for everyone, for 3 fiscal years. This caused over 65% of the correctional staff and supervisors to receive no step increase for that time. They got a $1200 bonus the first year, then a 2% raise and then a 2% raise again. That's it. Their initial proposal will be even more draconian, but this is what the county will eventually demand from the union this summer:
  
  - Health care premiums will double (as a percentage paid every check)
  - Step increases deferred for an additional 2 years, then only 2 step increases allowed in the last year (meaning if you got hired new and haven't received a step increase and are expecting say 3 of them, you only get 2... further deferring raises and driving down unfunded liabilities in the future).
  - Dramatic increase in 12-hour shifts (less officers needed by 30% for the same post, etc).
  - A one-time medical buy-back of 100%, up to 200 hours, per officer. (Intended to deplete the amount of medical each officer carries on the books, making it harder for them to call in medical in the future over time).
  
  And the kickers?
  - TWO unpaid furlough days, PER MONTH, for a year.
  - NO Raises over 3 years...... $1500 bonus each year instead.
  
  If not: 10% layoffs for every merit rank (ie: 300~ OFCs, 20-25 SGTs, 10 LTs), and mandatory 3-4 unpaid furlough days per month, for everyone. Hiring freeze and promotional freezes to follow (not counting bosses). And even scarier, civilian directors will run divisions and units. The county figured out that with the reduction in inmate population, you could close several divisions and need less bosses. Superintendents will be a thing of the past. Civilian directors will oversee everyone, working largely as a panel group, instead of direct control over a specific group of people.

This partially explains more of Dart's emptying the jail - it justifies massive cuts among the deputies. But we still don't see cuts in the rest of the otherwise redundant Cook County government ranks. There isn't a single function aside from the jail and forest preserves that isn't (or can't be) covered by other local governments.