Kane County considers using riverboat money to pay lobbyists

Kane County officials Thursday lined up about $4.5 million of internal expenses it plans to fund with riverboat money. One thing the money might not be used for is paying lobbyists.

In recent years lobbyists have been a big target for budget cutbacks. The target grew larger when the county decided to forego state money for several health department social service programs. Less need for state money equals less need to hire people to lobby for state money is the theory. The county's return on its investment on lobbyists has also been questioned. State payments on everything from probation officer salaries to the county's share of state income tax money have all suffered from serious lags in recent years.

With that in mind, county board member John Hoscheit proposed Thursday that the county pay lobbyists from the riverboat fund whenever possible. Hoscheit said one of the primary uses for riverboat money is to fund economic development in the county.

"I'm just throwing this out there for discussion," Hoscheit said. "I know there's been discussion over the years about the county board, with taxpayer money, funding issues like lobbyists and other people that we hire to pursue economic development initiatives for us. One option would be to include in the economic development fund from the riverboat funds to cover that and get that out of our general funds. From my perspective, really, a lot of those efforts are focused on funding sources for us for projects."

According to county expenses, lobbyist Raucci & Sullivan Strategies, Inc., has been paid about $42,000 through July of this year. If the county decided to pay Raucci & Sullivan Strategies from riverboat money it could set up an awkward relationship. The firm also lobbies for Elgin Riverboat Resorts.

Board member Cathy Hurlbut nixed the idea. She cited the volatility of the riverboat funds and the uncertainly riverboats will even exist in the future as video gambling expands in the state.

"We've had lobbyists for health and transportation," Hurlbut said. "Besides that, there may be someone, but I don't know that we really have any lobbyists that are lobbying for economic development."

With that issue decided, the riverboat committee approved a list of internal projects on par with last year's costs. New funding for farmland preservation is eliminated. Funding for outside uses - typically local municipal construction projects and money for local nonprofits - was scaled back nearly 37 percent. That money, about $1 million, will be distributed later through a yearly application process.