Responding to critics who said the Cook County Forest Preserve District is bloated and has lost track of its mission, County Board President John Stroger introduced a shrunken $141.7 million 2003 budget Wednesday that slashes jobs and reorganizes parts of the operation.
Stroger also unveiled a proposed $2.9 billion Cook County budget, which represents a 4.4 percent increase, with most of the revenue growth coming from an estimated $88 million extra in federal Medicaid funding.
The county budget will not increase property taxes while the forest preserve levy will rise 2.85 percent. The Forest Preserve District is a separate government run by the same board.
Perhaps Stroger’s most dramatic move came in his proposal to reduce the number of budgeted jobs at the Forest Preserve District to 540 from 1,013.
Sixty percent of the cuts in staffed jobs will come from the previously approved privatization of the golf courses while 219 jobs are open positions. In addition, about 100 currently filled jobs will be eliminated from throughout the district.
Despite the cuts, Stroger and his staff said services would not suffer. In fact, Stroger said by refocusing the district on its basic mission of “education, preservation and compatible recreation,” users would experience better forest preserves.
“I want the public to know that I am committed to rebuilding the Forest Preserve District from the start if that’s what it takes,” Stroger said.
His proposals include revamping the district’s police force by discontinuing its canine and mounted horse units, turning over criminal investigations to the sheriff’s department and creating a conservation police section for enforcing forest regulations.
Three tobogganing operations would be mothballed: Deer Grove in Palatine, Bemis Woods in Western Springs and Dan Ryan Woods on the South Side, which was already closed for repairs.
Stroger proposed combining the forestry and conservation departments into a Department of Resource Management where resource crews would focus on restoration and ecological management.
Jobs such as tree planting, removal and trimming would be performed by outside vendors. Divisions within the maintenance department would be reduced to nine from 12.
The proposed budget is $6.99 million, or 4.7 percent, smaller than in 2002. It includes $3.7 million to cut the deficit, now between $10 million to $12 million.
Erma Tranter, executive director of the Friends of the Parks, a group that recently criticized Stroger’s leadership at the district, said the proposed changes appear to be “dramatic” and “take the forest preserve in the right direction.”
“Now we have to look at the details,” Tranter said.
As for the county budget, the large influx of Medicaid funding and an estimated $10 million from increases in court filing fees allowed for a balanced spending plan that does not increase taxes.
The county obtained the extra Medicaid money through aggressive negotiations with federal and state regulators, Stroger said.
Commissioner Mike Quigley said all county elected officials should thank Ruth Rothstein, director of the Bureau of Health Services, for obtaining the funds.
“What it has done is let the rest of the county be a little undisciplined. They don’t have to hold the line if someone else is able to find a whole chunk of revenue sources,” Quigley said.
