Courts officials struggle to meet demand for budget cuts

Asked for progress reports Friday on how close they are to meeting mandated 5.5 percent budget cuts, few Kane County departments had good news, including at least one that will not make the cut at all.

The county board's Judicial and Public Safety Committee met with Sheriff Pat Perez and other officials in the county's court system to weigh-in on where they stand in making the cuts.

State's Attorney John Barsanti went first, telling committee members he believes that through attrition he will be under budget by the end of the year.

In the event he doesn't make the full cut, Barsanti set his office up as the co-champion of a new revenue source for the county. With the cooperation of the Circuit Clerk's office, Barsanti has hired an outside firm to begin hounding the deadbeats behind an estimated $47 million in outstanding court fines, fees and costs. Much of the debt is forfeited bond money from people who never show up to court, Barsanti said. So far, about $979,000 has been collected.

Sheriff Pat Perez was less definitive about his ability to make the cut. Fuel consumption, vehicle maintenance and overtime are all down in his department, and the sheriff plans to approach the police union about furlough days and unpaid holidays. However, even if all his employees take six furlough days between now and the end of the year, Perez estimated he would still be about $1 million short of the budget cut he's been asked to implement.

Meanwhile, Public Defender David Kliment told the committee the only way he'll make the cut is by sending everyone in his office home, except for himself, for a whole month.

"If it comes to that, I'll do that," Kliment said. "I'll do that November 1."

But Chief Judge Keith Brown told the committee that is not in the county's best interest. Shuttering the public defender's office would require Brown to appoint private attorneys - at a rate of $145 per hour - to handle Kliment's cases for that month.

"The big issue is, I don't think that he can reach (the cut)," Brown said. "You cut the hand off the public defender's office before you did the budget cuts. The public defender's office should not have more cuts. We're at the bottom line. He's a skeleton."

With the county board standing firm on a 5.5 percent cut across the board, any department failing to make the cut, and given a pass by the county board, would lead to other departments taking deeper cuts or the board spending down what's left of its savings.