Kane board fills sheriff's budget hole ... for now

Kane County Board members filled two holes in the sheriff's budget this week. But in doing so they arguably made it impossible to say the county will finish 2010 with a balanced budget.

The first hole appears to be a problem in 2011. The budget to cover the salaries for jail employees totaled about $7.8 million in 2010. That still left Perez $635,000 short for salaries. The county board voted to use $371,000 in federal grant money earmarked for costs associated with housing illegal immigrants in the jail to cover part of the shortfall. The county gets that grant money every year, but has never before applied it to the sheriff's budget.

The board also used about $155,000 of money left over from jail inmate medical fees received and surplus cash in Perez's patrol budget to cover part of the cost. The remaining money needed to cover the costs will be taken from 2011 RTA funds designated to pay for vehicle purchases for sheriff employees in 2011.

County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay agreed last week during an interview that deferring any 2010 costs to be covered by 2011 budget money would make it impossible to say the county finished the year with a balanced budget.

Finance Director Cheryl Pattelli said the hodgepodge of money scraped together for the solution was necessary because the county ran out of contingency money to cover the shortfall.

County Board Member Deb Allan said the board must do a better job of figuring out what the sheriff truly needs to operate both the jail and his patrol budgets.

“We should be funding the jail entirely for what it costs,” Allan said.

“That's an argument for finance (committee),” responded board member Cathy Hurlbut. “There are two sides to every issue.”

The second budget hole for Perez is an issue that heated up during his re-election campaign. The county will finish 2010 with more than $500,000 in costs associated with hosting prisoners in other county jails during times when the new Kane County jail is full. That cost, while expected, has not been budgeted for since the new jail opened.

Hurlbut again explained the idea for the past few years was to pay the overflow costs out of contingency funds at the end of the year. That avoids putting the money directly into the sheriff's budget. Hurlbut and McConnaughay have repeatedly said Perez still has work to do in cutting his budget. They have not said specifically where those cuts can or should occur. Board members agree this week that costs for overflow prisoners must be better accounted for in 2011.

“The money is left in the contingency fund, but that gives it a false reading of what the balance of the contingency fund is,” argued board member John Fahy.

“It's going to be part of the budget,” Hurlbut said. “I'm not sure it's going to be part of the sheriff's budget. Maybe it will be a stand-alone budget.”

Perez is on vacation and did not attend the vote.