Wait, did Kane County Board ever approve their own insurance benefits?

Rather than opting out of taxpayer-subsidized health insurance benefits, Kane County Board members on Wednesday found themselves scrambling to justify why they even have the benefits.

Research by the Kane County state's attorney's office, clerk, human resources department and board Chairman Chris Lauzen found no record of a county board vote creating the benefit. Board members agreed to continue that search Wednesday.

It provided a reprieve from an awkward debate about decreasing their own compensation.

This month, new board member Mo Iqbal proposed a plan to force his colleagues to pay the full costs of the insurance benefit if they want to keep it. Such a move would have saved taxpayers $240,000 last year.

For now, board members get the same insurance as a full-time county employee, which comes with taxpayers picking up more than 60 percent of the cost.

Iqbal believes that's in direct conflict with county policy. Board members are considered part-time employees when it comes to compensation. The county's policy says part-timers do not receive an insurance subsidy.

"My plan doesn't mean people who are getting it would be cut off," Iqbal told his colleagues Wednesday. "It means you wouldn't get it on taxpayers' dollars. We have a contradiction with the policy. It's not legitimate in my eyes."

The research so far indicates the benefit came to be more than 20 years ago. Absent any record of a vote establishing the benefits, Lauzen told the board members he views tax dollars spent for the board's insurance as a long-running mistake.

"You have to have authorization to spend money," Lauzen said. "Where did the board, at any time in the past, authorize the benefit? If you come to the conclusion there is no authorization, I'd call it an error of practice."

New board member Cliff Surges leads the committee reviewing the insurance benefit. He asked the committee to table the matter so he can find the evidence Lauzen requested. Surges said his first step will be to research what office or fellow official is best suited to find the record.

Surges said he believes in fair compensation for board positions that require daytime and weekend work.

"To expect people to take time from their families, their businesses, without compensation - I don't think that's real," Surges said. "I don't believe this board, or any previous board, has done something out of line."

All board members are eligible for insurance whether they spend five hours a week or 50 in their official capacity. But there's another curveball that may take some of the awkwardness out of the debate.

State law bars county board members from adjusting their own compensation in the middle of a term of office. Health insurance is a form of compensation.

That means any policy put in place to eliminate or change the current insurance benefit cannot take full effect until the 2022 election. Half the board is up for election in 2020. Those board members would see the change come into place at that time.