advertisement

Hidden bonuses for some Kane County employees come under fire

A hidden practice of paying some Kane County employees bonuses will come into the light and face possible elimination as officials work to close a $5.7 million budget deficit for 2017.

The bonuses sparked questions during budget presentations this week. County finance director Joe Onzick said certain employees received bonuses for at least the past four years. The exact number of employees who received the bonuses, and how much they each received has not yet been detailed.

Onzick said the bonuses on average represented about $2 million in salary expenses for each of those four years.

That $2 million breaks down to about $430,000 in straight base salary enhancements each year. The rest of the cost comes from payroll taxes and pension costs paid by the county as a result of the bonuses.

Onzick said the bonuses have been hidden from direct scrutiny because the money was all part of the actual salary budgets for the departments approved by the county board.

Finance committee Chairman John Hoscheit said the money for the bonuses comes from the overall salary budget approved for a department. When positions go unfilled or become vacant, the money for those salaries then becomes discretionary spending by the department head.

That person can either give the money back to the general fund or use it for other expenses, such as bonuses.

Elected officials have complete control over how they spend money once they receive a budget approved by the county board.

County board members have questioned the bonuses since the finance department made them aware of the practice. In the county budgets presented so far, bonuses awarded by Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon and public defender Kelli Childress received the most scrutiny.

Both of them want large spending increases for 2017. McMahon seeks about $700,000. Most of that cash is for new staffing. Childress wants about $381,000 to also add new staff members.

Childress said she always holds back a little bit of money whenever the county board approves raises because her non-payroll budget is "absurdly small." If she doesn't end up needing that leftover raise money for nonsalary expenses, she distributes the cash among all her employees. Every employee receives the same bonus.

County board members told McMahon they don't have a problem with him paying his attorneys more, as long as the pay reflects the market. What they do want to know is who received the bonuses, how much and what criteria he used for awarding the bonuses.

"I'd like as many of our expenses to be as predictable as possible," county board member John Martin said. "I'm all for lawyers being paid. I want to have a better handle on what this costs us."

McMahon responded that he's returned about $1.8 million in unspent funds to the county's general fund during his tenure.

"We have been good stewards," McMahon said. "We have been responsible with the resources that you all have transferred to my office."

McMahon indicated he did not want to have a public discussion about how he evaluates his employees. He also pointed out that state law gives him sole control over the money the county board gives his office.

"That goes to my ability to run my office independently," McMahon said.

The discussion left a sour taste in the mouths of some county board members. Several commented that now it seems impossible to know exactly how much new spending they are committing local taxpayers to when they approve the hire of new employees. Some board members called for full transparency from all departments on what bonuses they gave.

There may be some hesitancy to provide that as other board members made it clear they don't believe in paying such bonuses.

"Bonuses are something, to me, that happens in private business when a company does better than expected," said county board member T.R. Smith. "We don't have that in government. Money not spent in a department should come back to the county or go back to the taxpayers."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.