Not Quite Yet
From:
Cook County Information Center – Media Center:
County
Board President Todd Stroger has announced today that the majority of
departments under his authority have succeeded in cutting their budgets
by 17% to address a deficit of $500 million. In addition,
Stroger once again urged other offices and elected officials to
streamline and decrease their cost of doing business as well,
reaffirming his vow not to raise taxes to balance the 2007 budget.
Actually, speaking as a county worker, we haven’t managed to cut 17% from our budgets. To make matters more clear, Cook County’s budget hasn’t even been passed yet.
Technorati Tags: Budget, Government, CookCounty
“Urged other offices and elected officials to streamline and decrease their cost of doing business as well…” My office’s “Business” is taking the kids that no one wants to deal with and empowering them to make better decisions. Since we have to cut cost by 17%, I’d ask Mr. Stoger to pick the roughly 150 kids that don’t get services because we have to cut cost.
My favorite comment so far was the one from Dick Devine I heard on WBEZ this morning… (paraphrasing) “A 17% budget cut across all departments doesn’t differentiate from critical vs. non-critical services. It’s bean counting, not governing.” How true.