Committee recommends Kane County hire firm to analyze fees

A Kane County committee Tuesday recommended spending $62,000 to analyze county department fees.

Maximus, a Northbrook consulting firm, would look into fees charged to municipalities for services from the sheriff's department, county clerk, 911, the health department and development department, Finance Director Cheryl Pattelli said.

It will look into how much it costs the county to provide those services, as well as comparing Kane County's fees with other counties in the area, she said. For example, when looking at how much towns are charged for sheriff's department use, the firm would look at both the town's population and how many calls officers have there.

Some of the fees have stayed the same for the past several years, Pattelli said. State statute requires such a study to be done in order to raise fees, like those for the sheriff's department, but the county is adding other departments to the plan.

Although another firm had submitted a $22,000 bid, it had little experience working with counties or with the type of project the county was working on, Pattelli said.

The plan was recommended by the county's finance and budget committee. It still needs county board approval.