Could census cash end Kane County budget battle with circuit court clerk?

Kane County’s new official status as a county with more than 500,000 people may bring an immediate financial benefit that helps end an ongoing budget battle between the county board and Circuit Court Clerk Deb Seyller.

State law triggers an automatic increase in the fees associated with filing civil lawsuits for any county reaching the 500,000 population threshold. For instance, the current minimum fee associated with filing a complaint, petition or pleading that initiates most civil suits is $40 in Kane County. Because of the population boost made official by the census, the new minimum fee is $150. If the county board wishes, it can even vote to increase that minimum fee to the maximum cap of $190.

Seyller said not all the fees in her office will or can increase that dramatically, but her office certainly will bring in more revenue. Seyller had initially anticipated the census numbers to be finalized in June, so she must calculate new projections for exactly how much cash the fee increases may bring in.

The question is whether or not the county board will decide to apply any of that new money to the budget differences it has with Seyller. By Seyller’s most recent public projections, that gap stands at about $800,000 for the current fiscal year. Seyller’s budget battles with the county board have already ended up in court.

“The budget reports published by the county do look at the difference in revenue and expenses on a per office basis, but any revenue generated through my office is general fund revenue and not typically assigned back to cover our expenses,” Seyller said in an e-mail interview.

In other words, the new money she’ll collect will filter into the big pot of revenue used to pay expenses for the entire county but not necessarily to Seyller’s budget.

“Applying revenue to my office’s expenses would fall under the same argument as presented with the sheriff’s reimbursement last fall,” Seyller said. “Not good. Not bad. Just fact.”

Seyller refers to the unexpected federal reimbursement dollars Sheriff Pat Perez received near the end of the year for housing illegal immigrants when necessary. After a battle with the county board, Perez received the money to bring his budget closer to being balanced.

Before the debate about what sort of cut Seyller should receive from the new fees, the court system itself will have a say. Chief Judge F. Keith Brown said he wants to discuss an entire new strategy of implementing the fees, including which fees should be at the mandatory minimum versus the voluntary maximum. Fee increases may not necessarily mean a boatload of new money, Brown said.

“Yes, you might earn more money from them, but the higher fees might keep people from filing lawsuits, too,” Brown said.