Kane County eyes sales tax, borrowing to pay for computer upgrade

It will take a change to Kane County financial policies for court officials to find a long-term funding source for a pending computer upgrade that could cost up to $12.6 million.

County officials now say most of the money will have to be borrowed by selling bonds.

The county’s Judicial and Public Safety Technology Committee agreed Wednesday that taking a portion of the public safety sales tax is the best funding option.

Kane County shoppers pay an additional 0.25-cent sales tax that pays for transportation and public safety projects. That tax has raised between $12 million and $15 million annually in recent years. About 15 percent of the total — about $2.14 million this year — is earmarked to buy vehicles and other capital needs for the sheriff’s department, which uses only about $1 million.

The committee wants to put the unspent money to work on a regular basis by earmarking 6 percent of the total tax revenue for the $12.6 million computer upgrade. That change would require an amendment to the county’s financial policies. The policies, with some alterations, have been in place since 1999.

If the county board agrees to the plan, the tax would yield about $820,000 for the computer upgrade. That’s far short of even the first year’s estimated cost, which a consultant Wednesday pegged at $3.8 million.

Judge F. Keith Brown, chairman of the committee, told members that the plan would be to leverage the sales tax dollars to issue bonds. The sales tax income would then repay the bonds.

“And that doesn’t mean this would be the only funding source,” Brown said. “As we progress through the process, we may identify other sources.”

In an interview after the meeting, Brown wouldn’t say what he thinks those other funding sources might be.

Upgrading technology in the circuit court clerk’s office is the major facet of the plan. The county won’t even seek proposals for that effort until a new circuit court clerk takes office after the November elections.

Brown said he thinks the $12.6 million overall cost projection is a worst-case scenario.

“It is my hope and desire that whatever we do will be under $12.6 million,” he said.

Brown will present the funding plan to county board members Tuesday.