Expense accounts creates discord on McHenry County board

When the McHenry County Board passed a new set of rules last year outlining its policies and procedures, there was little attention, and no debate, given to a change that gave each board member a $1,000 expense account.

That changed Tuesday when one of the board's longest-serving members labeled the accounts "slush funds" and criticized her colleagues for approving them without more public discussion.

"Anytime we vote ourselves money, it ought to be thoroughly discussed and the public ought to know about it," Virginia Peschke said. "It's the kind of thing that should have been debated publicly. If that happened, I think a lot of us would have voted against it."

Peschke's colleagues fired back at her remarks Tuesday, questioning why she didn't raise her concerns in August when the board voted 18-3 in favor of the new board rules. Peschke, a Republican from Woodstock, was among the board members voting for the changes.

"She should have reviewed (the changes) and brought it up then if she had a problem with it," board member Dan Shea said.

Board members also disputed Peschke's claim the $1,000 accounts were not discussed publicly. Although they were not debated by the full county board, they had been discussed publicly by the board's management services committee.

"This is something that was done in public," board member Jim Kennedy said. "It was passed properly."

According to county records, only 10 of 23 eligible board members have used the expense account this year, with reimbursements ranging from a low of $27 to a high of $125, with a total of $933 coming out the accounts. A $125 reimbursement was sought by six board members attending Thursday's McHenry County Economic Development Corp. annual dinner.

The policy change led to an additional $8,200 being inserted in the county board budget, said Ralph Sarbaugh, associate county administrator for finance. However, board members say they do not expect every board member to use all, or even most, of their $1,000 allotment.

The expense accounts, backers said Tuesday, simply are a benefit board members already had. Under previous board rules, members were entitled to reimbursement for costs associated with their duties, such as attending chamber of commerce events, county-related seminars or meetings of the McHenry County Council of Governments.

However, under the old rules, members first needed permission from the county board chairman to access those funds.

Board member John Hammerand said the new policy is more fair to board members because it takes the decision of what is and is not appropriate out of the chairman's hands.

"It reduces favoritism," he said. "There's a certain amount of power that comes with being able to grant dinners."

But it also leaves one less check over how board members spend county funds. That role, board members said, now belongs to county residents.

"We have to justify to the voters that we were out on legitimate business," board member Tina Hill said.