Kane County sees slight glimmer of hope in rebounding construction

Construction activity in Kane County may be experiencing a slight rebound from the downward spiral it's been in since last year.

The development department told a county board committee Tuesday it's been noticeably more busy in the last couple of months, a trend that must continue if the county will come anywhere near its revenue projections in areas such as building permits.

The county projected $790,000 in building permit revenue for the year, lower than last year's projection of about $910,000.

But almost halfway through the budget year the county has raked in only about $100,000 from building permits.

Yet permits issued for the month of April slightly outpaced activity in April 2008, the first month in 2009 to see such a spike.

New residential construction is still down, but activity in rehab and repair activity to commercial structures is already ahead of last year's pace, as are similar upgrades to residential buildings.

The building-permit income is part of the reason the county has been examining ways to slash its budget both midyear and in the long run.

The county last week said the deficit for this year's budget is $3.9 million. The board approved across-the-board cuts of 5.5 percent earlier this month while it continues to hammer out what exact cuts it will make.

It's considered early retirements, health insurance incentives or making employees pay more of their premiums, pay freezes and furloughs.

All told, the county is at 22 percent of projected revenues from development-related fees with five months of activity under its belt.

Pace: Building fee shortage partly behind budget cuts