Kane County may be stuck with state's $1.7 million bill

Local taxpayers may foot the bill if the state turns out to be a deadbeat on the $1.7 million it owes the Kane County Health Department.

Health department officials will discuss all the monetary scenarios with county board members in coming weeks. Health Department Executive Director Paul Kuehnert said the best-case scenario has the state coming through with the money in six months. That scenario is the new reality of being what the state calls "an expedited pro-payee," jargon for being near the top of the list when the state starts paying its overdo bills again, Kuehnert said.

"That used to mean that we got paid in advance before the services are provided," Kuehnert said. "What it means now is we're on the list to get paid in six months. That's expedited in today's Springfield reality. That's the best-case scenario."

If that plays out, it would take the county until the very last days of its fiscal year to know if it will finish the year in the red.

The worst-case scenario is the state never pays the debt at all, Kuehnert said.

"They may be complete deadbeats on this, and we may have to eat the bill," Kuehnert said. "It obviously would be a county board decision on what to do at that point."

The ability of the county to eat the bill is sure to be a focus of discussion moving forward. The $1.7 million bill is more than the $1.2 million budget contingency set aside for overruns this year. In other words, all the contingency would be eaten up, even if all county departments hit their budget marks. And there would still be a $500,000 hole. The county does have some money left over from budgets in previous years that saw a better economy. That cash was moved to a fund designated for capital building projects, but is not legally bound to construction as the rest of the money in the account is.

Kuehnert said he expects the county board will consider several options to deal with all the possible scenarios. In terms of the health department itself, Kuehnert said it's preparing by recommending the layoff of 50 employees as announced Wednesday and dealing with the possible loss of all the cash reserves in the health department's accounts.

"It will be like people living from paycheck to paycheck," Kuehnert said. "That's not good because what happens if the car breaks down? For us, the car breaking down is a flu outbreak or a tuberculosis outbreak. And we're already dealing with that right now."