Kane exploring new policies to balance 2012 budget

Kane County officials are close to voting on what will be, at least technically, a balanced budget for the 2012 fiscal year that will take new measures to stem what’s become an annual onslaught of midyear requests for more money by various departments.

The proposed budget actually calls for $74.35 million in spending versus only $74.21 million of income. That’s a deficit of about $140,000. But county board members believe they can balance that budget with short-term borrowing from the county’s rainy day fund.

Because the county now expects to finish the current fiscal year in the black, members of the board’s Finance Committee said Wednesday they are comfortable with the idea of returning the $140,000 to the county’s piggy bank in January or February when the surplus funds would actually materialize.

The county’s fiscal year begins in December.

Board members said they favored that plan over alternative options such as a small across-the-board budget cut. Using riverboat gambling proceeds was another option.

“We can always cut back, but I think this is a realistic budget that we’ve come forward with,” Finance Committee Chairman Jim Mitchell said.

Board member Cathy Hurlbut was the lone “no” vote on the budget. She didn’t find any of the ideas to address the $140,000 shortfall appealing.

Hurlbut said she wanted to take time to explore more options such as taking pressure off the county’s main general fund by paying for more employee costs via various special funds that several departments have access to.

The proposed budget also includes the adoption of a new financial policy for the county.

From now on, the county will include expected raises, step increases or other salary bumps that come via arbitration in departmental budgets at the onset of the fiscal year.

Currently, departments must ask the county board for more money whenever employees receive or negotiate salary bumps that push a department over its allotted budget.

The county sheriff, clerk and judiciary system will also see increases to their baseline departmental budgets for the first time in several years under the new budget. The increases won’t necessarily give the departments more money to spend. Instead, the budget bumps reflect known annual costs in the departments that the county board has underfunded in recent attempts to scale back expenses with a broad brush.

The full county board must vote on the budget before final approval.