Pay cut for Cook County leaders proposed

By Kevin Beese For Chronicle Media

 

Cook 050416 Boykin pay cut CROP

Richard Boykin

Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin unabashedly wants to take money from his peers’ pockets.

Boykin has proposed county commissioners’ salaries be reduced by $10,000, with the somewhat symbolic gesture going toward the $45 million jobs program for teens and young adults that he hopes to pass. The jobs program would get the lion’s share of $50 million in county incentives to stop violence and assist people with disabilities through a proposed 4 cent hike in the county’s gasoline tax.

“It is not a new idea. It is not a new concept,” Boykin said of his salary-reduction plan. “Our country’s history is deeply rooted in shared sacrifice. In 1932, Congress voted to cut their salaries because of the Great Depression. When Harold Washington became mayor of the city of Chicago, he saw mounting debt and the need to lay off city employees and cut his own salary 20 percent.

“We are asking taxpayers to come up with more money (through the gas tax). Commissioners can give up $10,000 of their salary for part-time jobs, for 12 or 13 meetings a year. It is shared sacrifice. I am willing to do it. I am asking (other commissioners) to do that, too.

“I am asking them to give up 10 grand (each). If all 17 commissioners and the County Board president did it, we could hire 75 or 80 teens for the summer.”

Cook County commissioners earn $85,000 per year. Commissioner John Daley, who chairs the county’s Finance Committee, earns $90,000 per year. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle earns $170,000 per year.

Boykin said he is not sure county officials are living up the expectations of the job.

“Our No. 1 obligation is to protect the people we represent,” Boykin said. “There have been 1,100 people shot so far this year in the city of Chicago alone. I don’t know if we are doing a good job protecting our residents.

“President Obama prides himself on protecting us from ISIS and terror attacks. There are terror attacks on a daily basis in Cook County. There are neighborhoods where people can’t sit on their porches without fear of being shot. People can’t let their kids play in the street in certain neighborhoods. If we can’t protect people, we shouldn’t be in these jobs.”

Along with creating the jobs program for 16- to 24-year-olds, the hike in the gas tax would also fund adding 15-20 county sheriff’s deputies to violence-plagued areas, funding parenting classes in low-income areas, and establishing an advocacy office for people with disabilities.

Boykin said he has several votes lined up for supporting the jobs program through the gas-tax hike, but does not have the nine supporters yet needed for passage. He said he is disappointed that the County Board president has opted to remain neutral on the issue.

“That does not convey leadership,” Boykin said of Preckwinkle’s staying neutral “We as elected officials have to do difficult things. We need bold initiatives.”

Boykin, who has been a county commissioner less than 18 months, said he is happy to be driving the debate on violence-prevention measures, making colleagues uncomfortable and putting them in difficult situations.

“It is a difficult situation when my constituents are gunned down,” Boykin said.

He said when neighborhoods he represents have rampant unemployment something must be done. He said during the Great Depression unemployment ranged from 16 to 25 percent. Right now, the West Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago has 25.8 percent unemployment, Boykin said.

Boykin said he got a text from a fellow commissioner calling his salary-cut proposal “a dangerous piece of legislation” and urging him to rescind it.

“The only thing I have found dangerous is the streets of Chicago,” Boykin said. “I think it is dangerous if we do nothing.”

Boykin is expected to present his salary-cutting legislation at the May 11 County Board meeting.

 

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