Kane panel's vote shows no confidence in sheriff

Voters showed confidence in Sheriff Pat Perez by re-electing him two weeks ago. But Kane County Board members on the finance committee arguably took a vote of no-confidence in Perez Thursday.

The committee voted to earmark $500,000 in the 2011 budget to cover Perez's costs for housing inmates outside the county when the jail is full. That money may or may not cover the actual cost.

The county spent an average of $432,000 on shipping out inmates in recent years, according to Finance Director Cheryl Pattelli. However, in 2010, the county will spend $541,000. The county has never overtly accounted for those known annual costs.

The plan would change that problem, but the money won't actually be in Perez's budget or control. Some board members have said in recent weeks they don't trust Perez to try to avoid spending the money or spend whatever he must wisely.

Instead, finance committee members want to create a new line item in the overall 2011 budget for the county. In effect, all the new line item will do is say $500,000 of the county's overall $1.1 million in contingency funds for the 2011 budget are for the costs of inmate outplacement. That means there will only be $600,000 in the contingency to cover any cost overruns in every other area of the county budget in 2011.

“That leaves our contingency fund pretty lean,” said committee member John Hoscheit in contemplating his vote.

One of Perez's most vocal detractors, board member Cathy Hurlbut, was absent from the meeting. But the plan passed through the committee unanimously even in her absence.

It's possible Perez's fortunes may yet change. Two lame duck county board members, Robert McConnaughay and Gerald Jones, helped vote the plan through the committee. They will be replaced by new board members by the time the plan reaches the full county board. Perez has been on vacation and did not attend the meeting.