Should Kane Co. bail out sheriff's budget?

After six months of not finding a way to shore up Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez' budget, the Kane County Board will decide next Tuesday if they should bail Perez out with $1.2 million of last-minute miracle money.

County board members on the Finance Committee told Perez Thursday that they aren't willing to give him a dime unless they know for sure they won't be in the same position next year. That leaves Perez about four days to come up with a plan to cut costs and/or restructure his department. If no plan materializes, Perez runs the risk of the county board letting every employee of the sheriff's department miss their last paycheck of the 2009 budget year in what would essentially serve as a vote of no-confidence in Perez' ability to oversee the department.

As of Thursday, Perez had enough money in his budget for everything except payroll and some contractual costs for food service and medical care at the jail. State law forbids the county's auditor from paying the sheriff's bills unless there is money in the sheriff's accounts.

"You absolutely have to do something on Tuesday," County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay told Perez. "If you do not do something on Tuesday, the last payroll of the year will not get paid. It's just that simple."

Simple, except for the fact the county and the sheriff have seen this problem coming for months and have yet to find the solution. County board members John Fahy and John Hoscheit said they won't vote for any bailout of the sheriff's office without a plan for 2010.

"It's not prudent to put money in an account without seeing how it will be spent," Fahy said. "I want to assure the deputies that they're getting paid, but we also have a responsibility to see where this $1.2 million is going."

Hoscheit said Perez must commit to living within the budget the county board gives him.

"I'm sympathetic to the deputies here," Hoscheit said. "But we don't run the office. There's a pretty strong argument here that says if the patrol staff is the most important part, then there are other areas where you can make adjustments to cover that. But that's not our job. We need a commitment to make structural changes. That's the bottom line."

Perez said he appreciates the board not stepping on his authority and telling him how to structure his department. He said patrol is the most important aspect of his duties and staff has already had changes to their job duties to reflect that fact. As for 2010, Perez said union contract negotiations and ongoing attrition are the only methods he sees of addressing the problem. He pledged to hold off on hiring to cut costs and work diligently to win concessions from the union.

However, when pressed for what specific structural changes he would make, Perez had no detail. The committee asked him to come back with that detail on Tuesday. Even with a plan, Perez may have problems winning the confidence to get all the votes he needs. County board member Bill Wyatt was particularly hard on Perez during the meeting. Wyatt said Perez had his chance to solve the problem, now it's up to the county board.

"It's really up to us to determine now who gets paid, or what gets paid," Wyatt said. "We're outside of the sheriff's budget. This is now money that the board is going to have to control. To solve the problem, it would be our plan. Everyone else cut and stopped the spending."