Kane County Board welcomes legal battle with circuit court clerk

Kane County may be without a key component of its court system come Columbus Day as the circuit court clerk's office prepares to close its doors in anticipation of a lawsuit.

Just like last year, Circuit Court Clerk Deb Seyller has hired Mickey, Wilson, Weiler, Renzi & Anderson, an Aurora-based law firm, to defend her against a possible lawsuit.

No litigation materialized in 2009, but unlike last year, it's the county board that is threatening to sue this time.

The county board's Finance Committee on Thursday shot down Seyller's request for a $555,000 midyear budget increase for the third time. Each denial has brought taxpayers closer to paying for a legal battle where a judge would decide what bills the county must pay when a department overspends its budget.

Seyller repeatedly has said she needs the money to fulfill the mandated functions of her office. That includes paying the salaries of 14 new employees she hired without county board permission. It also includes raises owed Seyller's staff in the final year of a three-year contract.

"We're operating at the lowest level we can to perform our mandates," Seyller said. "And some of those are barely being performed."

But Finance Committee members weren't buying the need for the new employees, or the $555,000 b,ecause Seyller fulfilled her mandates last year and the year before without them.

"You had a budget," said committee member Cathy Hurlbut. "You decided it wasn't enough. You just thumbed your nose at me, and everyone else, and you just went ahead and did what you wanted anyway."

Seyller said the county board is shifting the blame by not taking responsibility for chronically underfunding her office.

"You knew you had mandates to fund," she said. "You had options for funding. You chose not to use them. You have to live with what you've done."

After her request was denied, Seyller said she plans on closing her office from Columbus Day to the end of the year because she'll be out of money.

"It would probably bring the rest of the courts down," she said. "They say the statutes are unclear about what they have to do. Maybe it's time they weren't unclear."

Hurlbut said after the meeting she's glad Seyller hired an outside attorney.

"She's really pushing us to go to this lawsuit," Hurlbut said. "That's what I think we're going to have to do."