Ken County will not have enough revenue to support its expected expenses in the next financial year, so the Finance Director of the County says, so she is asking the Ken County Board Finance Committee to decide how to make a quick difference in the budget process.
According to Kathleen Hopkinson, Finance Director of Kane County, in the last several years, Kane County is unable to balance its main operating account, which is called a general fund, without cutting cost cuts or bowing on cash reserves.
The issue has been pushed to the first budget process till the end of the budget, but this year it will ask the Finance Committee to take a decision to balance the way to balance the budget quickly.
“We already know that we do not have enough money in our normal fund for our 2025 budget,” he said. “If the county board can reveal this guidance, the department can include that they keep their budget together.”
According to Hopkinson, only 4% of the tax bill of Ken County resident goes to county, other local governments like school boards, municipalities, townships and more.
Even when expenses continue to increase spending like salary and contractual services, he said that County has not raised property tax in 14 years, which he said that it has contributed to the revenue problem currently facing it.
Hopkinson said, “The tax rate, which you pay for the can county services you have been going down for more than a decade because we are not collecting any other money. We are spreading it between more people and companies,” Hopkinson said.
In the entire meeting 8 February 8 in the Cane County Board Committee, District 5 Board Member Bill Lent suggested how much revenue the Finance Department will receive the county in the financial year of 2025, then share the estimates that share the estimates with the county offices and departments to help shape their budget.
He said, “Instead we are trying to find money after convincing us about our needs, we are telling them,” We really do not have the money that will meet all your needs and wants, “he said.
Ken County Board Chairman Corin Pierog called Lenrt’s suggestion a “concrete idea” and said that a report should be given to the members of the board that should show which funds were required to be spent by the law and which were flexible.
According to Hopkinson, almost everything done by County is required by a state law or a county code.
Hopkinson said that the Finance Committee of the County Board has expected to guide the departments and offices of the county as to how the County Board planned to balance the budget in its next meeting on 28 February.
In that meeting, the committee will consider another change in the budget process – establishing budget goals before requesting money.
Under the proposed change, which Hopkinson presented to the committee of the entire meeting, will determine a mission and various goals at the beginning of the budget process rather than requesting the Kane County Office and the Department County Board. Then, the requested money can be linked to the purpose of the department or office.
Hopkinson said that he hopes that this change will increase communication between departments and their affiliated county committees, as well as the departments think differently about how they request money.
“People who work in these offices and departments are working hard every day,” he said. “If a part of the budget process as they can take the pen on paper and write what they are doing and what they are doing, whatever they are doing, what is the end result of what they are doing, it will set a long way to help the board understand everything.”
Before the budget process is replaced, the proposal must first go to the Finance Committee, then the Executive Committee and finally pass a vote by the Kane County Board.
Over the years, the county department and the office will present their requested funds to their affiliated county committee, and those requests will be converted into the final budget, according to Hopkinson. He said that the goals and missions of a department or office will be made by the County Board after before the budget is approved.
With the proposed change, Hopkinson said she expects to move goals in “output” from “output”. He defined the output as a simple matrix, but can reveal new ways to complete the results that can be tracked and what the department or office really want to do.
For example, he said that an output may be “released the amount of traffic tickets”, while a related result may be “safe roads with low traffic accidents”. While the traffic ticket output is very specific, the results of “safe roads” may include releasing a certain number of traffic tickets and other ways to secure roads may lead to leading law enforcement, such as strategic placements of authorities or road saints improvement in problems areas.
Hopkinson said, “This is not correct in this first year.” “A lot that has been tracked, there are some results, but it is more output, and I think over time we can talk about the results, it would be a better form of communication.”
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