DuPage County board facing budget crunch time

DuPage County Board members chipped away at expenses Tuesday during a special meeting on their "doomsday" budget but came to no resolution as time begins to run out.

The board has until Nov. 30 to vote on Chairman Robert Schillerstrom's fiscal plan which calls for 235 layoffs and multiple program cuts to avoid a running a deficit.

Another budget session is set for Monday when officials will need to grapple with a projected $9.5 million shortfall in the corporate fund, which pays for most salaries.

"There's still a gap and we're going to have to make the hard decisions as to where to cut," board member Tom Bennington said.

Some good news emerged in that a painstaking review of revenues Monday netted about $800,000 in extra funds.

Board member Jim Healy who led the effort to find the hidden revenues, was still optimistic Tuesday unaccounted-for dollars and cost efficiencies would save the day.

Schillerstrom, however, cast doubt on that scenario. "It's as clear as day there's no solution out there," he said. "There's no silver bullet."

A move by board member Paul Fichtner to put $153,000 back into the budget to prevent the closing of field courts for traffic tickets and other misdemeanors was defeated.

"I understand it's a priority but I don't know how many other priorities are going to come up and how much they're going to add up to," board member Debra Olson told Fichtner.

The proposed budget has been met with a chorus of disapproval from most county leaders and appeals from staff members to preserve programs such as the urgent dental clinic offered by the DuPage Health Department and save jobs in high-impact areas like the probation department.