Kane County reaps $4.2 million from courts

The state's attorney's office helped generate $4.2 million last year in revenue that will remain in Kane County, officials announced Tuesday.

The funds came from a variety of unpredictable sources, including $1.2 million in unpaid court fines and fees the office was able to collect in arrears and $900,000 in forfeited bond money.

In addition, State's Attorney John Barsanti said the new county jail and efforts to keep it from overcrowding resulted in a $3.1 million savings.

"We're kind of proud of the whole thing," he said Tuesday.

About half of the money was generated by taking a tougher stance on previously unpaid fines and fees, and defendants who didn't return to court after posting bond to be released from jail.

Barsanti's office worked with a collection agency to recoup $1.2 million of $25.5 million in unpaid fines and fees owed to the county, and also seized $900,000 in forfeited bonds through court proceedings.

Fines and fees that were paid by defendants on time last year totaled $1.8 million, and the county's Second Chance program for nonviolent offenders brought in another $320,000.

Barsanti said only the Second Chance funds would go entirely to the county's general fund, while the remaining money - about $3.8 million - would be divided among the county, law enforcement agencies and programs that played a role in each particular case.

The jail savings were calculated based on the cost of housing inmates in other counties in 2008, before the larger county jail opened in St. Charles.

Barsanti said efforts to keep nonviolent property-crime offenders from sitting in the jail through plea bargains and more thorough bond-setting procedures also helped prevent crowding.

"It moves the caseload along better, it opens up beds in the jail," he said. "We completely eliminated the out-of-county detainees."