Kane County to detail potential job losses of $3.8 mil budget cut
Kane County's union employees will soon have a better idea how many of them might be unemployed come the beginning of May.
At the county's executive committee meeting Wednesday officials will detail how many jobs might be on the chopping block as the county searches for $3.8 million in new budget cuts to balance its bottom line before the end of the fiscal year. The current fiscal year is only a few months old, but income has proved to be even lower than scaled-back projections. The result was Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay calling for another round of budget cuts, particularly in light of the county finishing in the red last fiscal year. That left the county with little wiggle room in its contingency fund, and there is not enough contingency money to address $3.8 million in cuts.
Departments have already cut their budgets coming into the year, so much so that McConnaughay and Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez had a small spit last week when Perez brought a request to replace a dying copy machine to the county board's finance committee. McConnaughay told the committee that approving such a request would mean they simply weren't listening to her about the need to cut the budget. She also hinted at the time that layoffs could very well be a reality.
On Monday, McConnaughay said layoffs should be a last resort after department heads take another look at what they can trim from their budgets. The county has not formally sat down with any of its unions, but McConnaughay said they should all be aware of what's going on. She said there are no provisions in any of the county's union contracts that would allow officials to freeze the wages or cut the salaries of any union employees. If budget cuts do get down to personnel, that leaves the county little choice but to lay off employees unless the unions agree to something else, McConnaughay said. Meanwhile, wage freezes and unpaid days off are being considered for the county's nonunion employees, she said.
"I'm not suggesting that that's the only way to go about this," McConnaughay said. "What I'm saying is that it may very well be something that some offices need to consider. We need to avoid layoffs as best we can. And that may mean department heads need to think outside of the box in a way they have not had to think in a very long time."
No matter what, McConnaughay said the county should be ready to implement cuts by the first of May.