Kane County public defender makes her case for funding increase

Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen didn't expect an answer from public defender Kelli Childress when he asked where the money will come from to support her 2019 spending increase request. But Childress' reply Tuesday night may represent every bit of the answer for the $5.1 million projected deficit for the fiscal year that begins in December.

Childress said her office has a chronic shortage of funds that forces her to make tough decisions every year. Some of those decisions include cutting jobs and not providing services, or a certain level of service.

"I have to look at the available dollars and decide where the priorities are," Childress said. "Sometimes you have to say there is a need here versus over here. Over the years I have demonstrated there is a tremendous need here."

Childress wants a $746,000 budget increase for her office. The problem is her department is part of the county's police and court system. Childress' office, along with the sheriff and court services, represent about $4.35 million in spending increase requests fueling the 2019 deficit. That's a fact Lauzen highlighted even before Childress began her presentation; he's targeted those requests as "nonstarters" during previous budget meetings.

But that will be a decision for the full county board.

The board faced a similar deficit for 2017 once all the budget presentations came forward. It ended that fiscal year with a nearly $2 million surplus. There was another budget deficit projected for 2018. A property tax increase and an across-the-board spending cut erased it, along with court services' electronic monitoring program for potentially dangerous people awaiting trial. The board spent much of this year trying to find a way to restore that program. It, too, represents a chunk of the 2019 deficit similar to Childress'.

Along with setting priorities, questions from the board indicated a re-allocation of the county's share of the RTA sales tax will get consideration as part of the deficit solution. About 82 percent of that money funds transportation and road projects in the county. Public safety functions get a 9 percent cut. The judiciary gets 6 percent. The remaining 3 percent flows into the county's general fund, which pays the bulk of the county's costs, such as employee salaries and benefits. The board may also consider a court security fee increase to help cover the costs of seven new officers brought on since the last increase in 2016.

"With the end of the budget presentations, we have now covered every penny," Lauzen said. "We are still $5.1 million apart. But we're going to continue working."