In the latest attempt to solve a looming budget shortfall, the Kane County Board has OK’d a recommendation that county offices and departments reduce their expenses by roughly 8% from last year’s budget.
A recommendation to reduce expenses in the budgets that have been proposed by the county’s offices and departments was presented to the board for a vote last month, but a final decision was ultimately delayed, and the proposal went back to the Kane County Board Finance Committee to be revised.
That revised recommendation with a new metric for how much the board is suggesting the offices and departments cut is what was approved on Tuesday as part of the meeting’s consent agenda.
For months, the Kane County Board has been grappling with how to close a budget gap Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog has previously estimated as being in the range of $25 million to $29 million, according to past reporting.
Since 2023, the county has dealt with gaps in its annual budgets by dipping into its cash reserves, according to past reporting. Last year the county balanced its budget by using roughly $27 million in reserve funds. But, assuming revenue and spending remain level, continuing to use reserve funds would leave the county on track to dip below its required 90-day reserves in 2027.
A referendum question in the April 1 election sought to close that gap by asking voters to approve a 0.75% county sales tax to pay for public safety expenses, a measure that was projected to generate more than $50 million in revenue for the county each year. But it was overwhelmingly shot down by voters.
So, without the sales tax money, the county board has been considering ways to generate additional revenue — like reallocating funds it gets from the Regional Transportation Authority sales tax to public safety and judicial costs — and cut spending.
Over the summer, a since-disbanded working group including county board members and county staff recommended asking county offices and departments to reduce their proposed budgets to what was spent in 2024, according to past reporting. That was the original expense reduction proposal.
However, in August the board decided to send the item back to the Finance Committee.
Part of the rationale for waiting on a final vote came from a recommendation from Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney John Frank, who suggested delaying the measure to allow the county’s elected officials to first present the budgets they want and avoid a potential legal challenge, according to past reporting.
That issue came up last year in the county’s budgeting process when Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser argued that it’s against state law for the county board to restrict elected officials’ control over their budget proposals. The board still makes the final decision as to what’s budgeted to each office and department.
The proposal was also sent back to the Finance Committee because of a suggestion made by board member Leslie Juby in August that serves as the basis of the measure approved Tuesday. Juby’s proposal relied on an across-the-board reduction from the 2025 adopted budgets of just under 8%, and the removal of $6 million from a county capital fund to fill the rest of the budget gap, according to past reporting.
That suggestion was then modified to the item considered and ultimately recommended for approval by the Finance Committee in late August, which includes the roughly 8% reductions. The revised suggestion also relies on using roughly $3.5 million in reserve funds, which Juby previously said her recommendation didn’t.
This recommendation puts the county’s projected spending from its general fund at just under $124.8 million for the year, according to the county’s numbers. Juby previously said the new metric makes the cuts more equal because it’s the same percentage reduction across-the-board, and noted that this proposal accounts for changes like salary increases made across 2024 and 2025.
The item OK’d Tuesday essentially locks in the board’s expense recommendations, but does not set the revenue piece of the budget.
The county’s revenue is projected to be about $121 million for the general fund, but the actual number is not known at this point. That means there could be some change in how much the budget deficit actually is, and therefore how much, if any, the board ends up taking out of its cash reserves.
These conversations are also happening weeks after the county’s offices and departments already started presenting their proposed budgets, and as the Dec. 1 deadline to approve a budget looms nearer.
The county board has to put a draft budget on display before it can be officially approved, according to past reporting. Last year, Kane County put the draft version on display in September, and ultimately approved the budget in mid-November.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com