3 new judges bring new money woes to Kane board

The addition of three new judges in Kane County courtrooms in December 2010 will create some long-term solutions to speeding up the judicial process by also add a bunch of financial headaches for county board members and taxpayers.

The board met with judges and elected department heads throughout the county Tuesday night to brainstorm the problem of where to put the new judges once they come in. There is no room in the county judicial complex to give three judges courtrooms to run, at least with the way the complex is currently configured.

That puts the county on a countdown to find space within the next 10 months for the judges. Because of the need for a fast resolution, any major construction is not viable. Yet any short-term fix is likely to create rampant inefficiencies in various spokes of the wheels of justice. So a long-term solution is also needed.

Right now, the county doesn't appear to have enough money for any solution at all.

The biggest long-term solution discussed involves building an entirely new wing on the current judicial center to serve as work space for the circuit court clerk, state's attorney's office, court services and the public defender. That would create more space for courtrooms in the current complex. The costs of such of construction project have yet to be determined. Paying for it may very well involve reviving the county's currently dormant capital fund levy on local tax bills.

In the short-term, a possible solution may involve temporarily moving traffic court to the current circuit court clerk offices in the old Montgomery Ward building in St. Charles. A temporary move of divorce court to the civil court complex was also mentioned. But all those fixes require up to $3 million the county doesn't have.

The capital dollars are available for the short-term space reconfiguration. But adding more state's attorneys, more public defenders, more circuit clerks and more courtroom security officers to make the three new courtrooms function will cost operational dollars that don't exist. The county just completed six months worth of trying to cut its 2009 operating budget to stay in the black and failed. Officials ultimately had to dip deeper into savings than intended to stay above water.

County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay said solving the problem of the three new judges will be the county's major project for the year. She will form three task forces to examine the construction, technology upgrades and monetary needs of the short and long-term solutions. Of those three, McConnaughay said finding money to pay for everything is by far the most daunting task.

"It's a serious challenge, and nobody here tonight seemed to offer any solutions for that," McConnaughay said.