Kane County Clerk's Office in 2017: More services provided and more tax dollars saved
Each year, the Office of Kane County Clerk John A. Cunningham serves thousands of Kane County residents in a number of areas, including voter registration, applications for passports and marriage licenses, requests for copies of birth and death certificates, and redemption of delinquent taxes. 2017 was no exception.
In 2017, the Clerk's Office generated $1,268,906 in revenue for Kane County, a 4 percent increase over 2016 and twice as much as was collected in 2003. In 2017, a new source of revenue was created by offering passport applicants the option to purchase photos.
More than 3,000 passport applications are completed here each year, providing the potential revenue of up to $45,000 annually. All of the revenue generated - based on user fees rather than property taxes - reduces the burden on Kane County taxpayers and covers the cost of running the Office's Vital Records and Tax Extension Departments.
The Clerk's successful legislative initiatives included the signing of legislation allowing the Clerk's Office to reduce unnecessary spending for extraneous election judges in primary elections beginning in March.
Expected savings from the elimination of this mandate could reach $100,000. This legislation is another in a series of initiatives by Cunningham to save money for Kane County taxpayers while increasing efficiency within the Clerk's Office.
The Clerk's Office continued to assist other elected officials. When the Treasurer's Office was overwhelmed with residents seeking to prepay 2018 property taxes, the Clerk's Office was there to help.
Cunningham's staff also hosted the Will County Clerk's Office to demonstrate Kane County's online Economic Interest Statement processing system.
Most importantly, with the County Board facing a significant 2018 budget shortfall, Cunningham cut his own budget by nearly 10 percent to help the Board balance the budget. Cunningham eliminated a management level position and cross-trained staff in order to fill the void. Since becoming Clerk, Cunningham has eliminated three management-level positions within the office, secured millions in state and federal grants, obtained millions of dollars of election equipment at reduced cost, and implemented new servers to save more than $500,000 annually.
Cunningham said. "I am proud that our office was able to generate more revenue, provide professional and courteous service to thousands of County residents, and assist other County departments - all while being under budget for 2017, and reducing the 2018 budget."
As Registrar of Vital Records, the Clerk processed thousands of requests for copies of marriage licenses, birth, and death certificates. As a passport acceptance agency, the Clerk processed nearly 3,000 passport applications in 2017. More than 400 businesses filed Assumed Name Certificates. Vital Records also implemented a centralized office supply inventory system and continued the expansion, modernization, and training of employees in the Laserfiche record storage program.
The Clerk's Office began the year by conducting the consolidated primary and general elections. Clerk's staff brought the Votemobile to nearly a dozen events during the summer to promote voter registration. The Clerk's Voter Outreach Program welcomed 22 new participants who will use signage to promote voter registration and early voting.
More than 50 percent of those voting in the November 2016 election cast a ballot prior to Election Day, and the program played a role in this increase. Additionally, the number of registered voters in Kane County exceeded 250,000 for the first time in 2017, and the Clerk's Office processed thousands of new registrations, changes of address, and cancellations. The office continued implementation of the statewide voter registration database as well as improved training of election personnel.
The Tax Extension Department had another busy year. For every taxing district in Kane County, the Clerk's Office applies the state equalization factor, calculates the tax rate needed to produce the amount of revenues each taxing district can levy, spreads the levy among the properties in the district according to their equalized assessed values so that tax bills can be computed, abates taxes as directed by taxing districts, and prepares books for the county collector. The Office completed the extension process for the 2016 tax cycle in record time, saving money for taxpayers. The Clerk's Office also handled more than 7,000 requests concerning the redemption of delinquent taxes.
The Kane County Clerk serves as the custodian of county records, registrar of vital records, chief election official, and tax extension official for Kane County. The Clerk's Office has modernized election equipment, improved training of election workers, implemented new software to automate the tax extension process, updated the scanning and processing of vital records, and secured millions of dollars of grants and equipment. The Clerk's Office provides information directly to residents via www.kanecountyclerk.org, twitter.com/kanecoilclerk, or www.facebook.com/kanecountyclerk.