Cook County Health Services Cuts Pass Initial Muster

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 27, 2011 9:33PM

Given the mandate from County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to cut department budgets so she can bring the county budget into balance, it looks like the Cook County Department of Public Health has done that, reducing their budget by $36 million over last year through a combination of job cuts and operational restructuring. Now, Preckwinkle has to incorporate the department budget into the larger county budget.

The proposed budget also relies on $315 million from taxpayers, a reduction of $96 over last year. Even with the cuts, county commissioners are still questioning the six-figure salaries the independent board overseeing the system is paying to administrators who just received raises and the millions of dollars in consultant fees. Labor unions say the cuts are coming at the expense of workers needed to maintain a decent level of service and question the decision to end in-patient services at Provident Hospital on the South Side and Oak Forest Hospital in the south suburbs.