What to do with new $15 million in Kane County?

The Kane County Board is haggling over how to spend $12 million to $15 million in new money.

The sales tax hike enacted by the state legislature to bail out the RTA includes a quarter-cent sales tax increase to go to the county for transportation and public safety.

Members of the board's executive committee passed along a basic structure for the funds Wednesday, with the caveat that none of the money could be spent until the board develops criteria for what projects to fund.

Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay suggested some of the money be kept aside for matching grants or other projects in towns, while other board members said the money should be spent solely on county projects.

"This is a dangerous precedent," Aurora Democrat Gerry Jones said. "What about their own tax base?"

Bill Wyatt, an Aurora Republican, said the Orchard Road project was a good example of governments working together.

"People don't care if the county owns an intersection or the city owns an intersection," he said. "They care about getting through it."

Most of the funding would go toward transportation projects, with about 15 percent of the funding going toward public-safety projects.

John Noverini, a Carpentersville Democrat, said money for municipal projects shouldn't exclusively be matching grants because some of the smaller towns in the county don't have that money for infrastructure projects.

The additional half-cent sales tax in Kane County will be collected starting this month, with half the proceeds going to transit agencies and half to the county.

The first funds will come to the county in July.

The county board is scheduled to approve the basic structure for the funds at its meeting on Tuesday.