Guns, ammo among cuts to fix Kane County sheriff's office deficit

Gas, guns and ammo are some of the top items the Kane County sheriff's office will cut back on for the remainder of the year as part of the final compromise addressing a $2.5 million income shortfall in the office.

The county board's finance committee signed off on an agreement with Sheriff Don Kramer this week to cut an additional $500,000 of expenses from the office.

County board members had already cut about $2 million of expenses from Kramer's budget after his decision to boot federal inmates from the county jail. Kramer said he had to cancel the federal contract because there the staff isn't big enough at the jail to adequately accommodate the number of federal detainees the county had hosted the past few years.

In all, there are 31 line items in the sheriff's office affected by the final round of cuts. Fuel for sheriff's vehicles will see a $126,700 reduction, making it the biggest single cost savings in the final tightening.

Health care costs at the jail will also shrink by more than six figures, in part because of the reduction in inmates and staff.

Judicial and public safety Chairwoman Cristina Castro said Kramer agreed to the cuts after having his own finance person examine the impacts. The agreement is identical to a plan the committee put forward a month ago. Castro said she is happy Kramer and the board reached terms by coming to the table together.

"It's a good sign," she said. "I'm optimistic about the relationship going forward."

That's good news because the county is about to embark on budget planning for 2016. It will be the first time Kramer will establish the budget for the department since taking office.

He has repeatedly said several revenue projections were grossly overestimated in his current budget, which was crafted by his predecessor, Pat Perez. The county board's finance team has refuted all of Kramer's statements about the projections.

Resolving budget issues in the sheriff's office helps clear the deck to address some other looming financial challenges for the county.

Though Gov. Bruce Rauner's plan to reduce the share of state income taxes to local communities by 50 percent has lacked support in the Illinois General Assembly so far, such a cut would cost the county $2.8 million. The county is also expecting a health insurance cost escalation of about $900,000 next year.

The good news is sales, income and RTA tax collections are all coming in above projections for the current year. All combined, the three tax sources have netted more than $1 million beyond the county's forecast for the year to date.