Preckwinkle, Commissioners in Furlough Tiff

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle took some county commissioners to task Tuesday for refusing to take furlough days, saying she was “concerned about commissioners who haven’t behaved as leaders.”

Preckwinkle did not name which commissioners she felt were not complying with a County Board mandate that a majority of the county’s approximately 23,000 employees each take the equivalent of 10 unpaid days in the budget year that ends Nov. 30.

Commissioners Earlean Collins and William Beavers have said they do not plan to comply with the request that elected employees take furloughs as a measure of solidarity with workers who may have no choice.

“The commissioners are the leaders of the county and they ought to be abiding by a budget which they passed unanimously,” Preckwinkle said. The furlough measure was intended to save the county about $30 million but a controversial report by the county comptroller’s office said actual savings had amounted to only about $16 million with three months remaining in the fiscal year.

The report immediately came under criticism from commissioners who said data was inaccurate. The commissioners voted to withdraw the report produced by the county comptroller, and Preckwinkle directed the comptroller to issue a revised report Wednesday.

Some commissioners said the comptroller’s report did not take into account furlough days that they had taken and may not have taken into account employees who left their county jobs before taking all 10 furlough days.

“I don’t think the report is that wrong,” county comptroller Constance Kravitz said. “There are maybe one or two things that are wrong.”

The end of the year is expected to see an increase in furloughs taken by workers, in part because people may schedule days off around Thanksgiving, Preckwinkle said.

The county last year required most employees to take at least five “shutdown” days–days when most county offices are closed–and five discretionary days without pay. The furloughs are voluntary for elected officials but mandatory for staff determined by their departments to be “nonessential.”

Commissioner Collins said that while she also agreed with the concept of “shared sacrifice,” her staff had already voluntarily accepted salary cuts before the furloughs.

“We work when this body goes on vacation. My staff and I hit the steet, every single Saturday and Sunday we are out there with the people because that’s where they are. They work weekends, nights, whenever there’s a need to do so,” Collins said. “I will not sit by and take my cuts because I know this board cannot cut my salary.”

Beavers previously told the Sun-Times that he would not accept furlough days.

When Preckwinkle was asked what the ramifications would be for those who did not comply with the furloughs, she said, “Compliance will be considered in 2012 budget allocations.” She declined to elaborate.

Preckwinkle also said she has not asked anyone to accept any measures she has not taken herself. Looking ahead to the next budget year, Preckwinkle said that she would take into account that shutdown days are easier to enforce than furlough days.

According to the numbers released by the comptroller’s office, as of August 27, the departments under the president’s office had reached 53 percent of the target to be saved through furloughs and the departments under other elected officers, 60 percent. The health and hospitals system, which operates independently but under the board’s oversight, had reached 28 percent of its target.