McHenry officials avert cuts to breast cancer program and others
McHenry County officials were able to stave off possible cuts to the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program and other programs in the county’s 2012 budget, which will be up for review and adoption Nov. 15.
The county’s proposed $254 million budget, which would go into effect Dec. 1, includes a $1.7 million payment for the early retirement of bonds used to build Valley Hi, the county’s nursing home, officials said. The budget for the current fiscal year is $242.5 million.
Also averted were cuts in funding to the University of Illinois Extension and the McHenry County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Adam Lehmann, assistant to the McHenry County administrator. Several people spoke at the Oct. 18 county board meeting in support of the University of Illinois Extension, whose office in Grayslake serves Lake and McHenry counties, Lehmann said.
Earlier this month, county board members approved a 1.5-percent cost-of-living increase to the 2012 tax levy, which is projected to amount to an average $6 per homeowner and yield about $1.2 million in revenues.
Board members also approved a 3-percent pay increase for nonunion county staffers, who last received raises in December 2009.
Health insurance costs are projected to increase by $1.5 million.
The county has frozen or eliminated about 50 positions since 2009 due to people leaving their jobs or retiring. Three people who are retiring from the county recorder’s office this year will not be replaced, Lehmann said.
The draft budget can be view on the county’s website.