Should Kane jail inmates be charged rent?

Making major changes to Kane County employee pensions and charging rent to the wealthier inmates of the county jail are two ideas county board members pitched Tuesday to close a $4.5 million budget gap looming for 2017.

Board members will seek both spending cuts and new, nontax sources of income over the next several months in hopes of keeping the county's property tax freeze in place for another year.

The $4.5 million predicted deficit is nearly $2 million more than forecast by the county finance department just a couple of months ago. The deficit ballooned as various county departments submitted 2017 budgets calling for more spending.

That's in direct contrast to the $2.6 million finance department officials asked departments to cut before submitting their budgets.

"You see the size of the challenge," said county board Chairman Chris Lauzen. "The consequence of not being able to bring this into balance ends up being an amount that you'll end up voting on maybe four or five months from now in a property tax levy increase."

County board members responded to that call to action with several ideas that would change both the short- and long-term budget outlook.

Board member John Hoscheit, also chairman of the county board's finance committee, urged investigating a plan to charge inmates of the county jail "rent" to recoup the costs of housing them.

"I understand there are a number of people in the jail who may not have the financial ability to pay such a fee," Hoscheit said. "But there are a number of people who are in there who do have the financial resources. If people are culpable, and do have the resources, I think they should pay to stay in the jail."

Hoscheit did not define an income level he believes would be able to pay the fee, what the fee would be or what the income potential to the county could be. On the expense side, board member Drew Frasz called for investigating the county's ability to move county employees out of the current guaranteed pension plan they receive and into a 401(k) plan and health savings account model more commonly seen in the private sector.

The suggestion came one day before board members will see a presentation from the executive director of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. Lauzen told board members that presentation will show IMRF investments failed to bring in expected returns this past year. That will increase the financial burden of all local governments with employees in the pension plan to fund those guaranteed retirement salaries.

Lauzen appeared to support Frasz's call for a change in the way the county assists employees with funding their retirements.

"We basically got zero on the pensions," Lauzen said. "But we're responsible for producing and guaranteeing 7.5 percent (return). Is that really something this board wants to do? Do you want to guarantee what the market is going to do this year, and next year and forever?"

Those ideas will become part of the budget discussion as county departments bring their individual budgets forward for scrutiny. The board will lock in a budget, and a tax levy, in early fall.