Cook commissioners declined to give the county's Health and Hospitals system the ability to tax residents, voting down a proposal that would have made the board more powerful.
Commissioner Earlean Collins, who introduced the measure, said empowering the health system to levy taxes would have helped it become truly independent.
“That way, it takes away all of the problems that people have in their perceptions of Cook County,” Collins said. Giving the health board taxing powers would be “the best way to do this, without all the shackles that come with Cook County, real or imaginary.”
She pointed to Chicago Public Schools, which has the ability to levy taxes for education funding, as a model.
“If the board is going to be truly independent, this has to happen soon,” Commissioner John Daley said.
But the measure was defeated, 11-6.
Citing a slew of unanswered questions — will the health board be made independent, does the county need another taxing body, would officials be elected or appointed? — commissioners declined to further debate the issue.
County Board President Todd Stroger, hardly the health board’s biggest supporter, said the discussion was premature.
"It’s more complicated than it appears on the face," he said. "The board itself has no accountability to anybody."
Commissioner Deborah Sims said she wondered how health board members, if they have taxing power, would balance their priorities.
“This will change what we know of as a public hospital because the people on that board are not elected officials, and they work for the private sector,” she said. “Their eyes are always going to be on the bottom line, and not on the people of this county.”