A perfunctory budget transfer to help DuPage County solve problems with the state’s troubled child-support system led to a revelation on Monday that the county so far has spent $2.4 million to fix such mistakes.
Whether DuPage, which will oversee the operation until it is relieved of its duties at the end of June, will spend any more money on the problem-plagued system remains to be seen.
But county officials said they are closely watching the bottom line to know exactly how much money the county spends and said they are confident they will get their money back from the state.
“We’re are fully faithful that we will be reimbursed,” said George Kouba, DuPage’s finance director. “We are documenting what we’re out and what we’re owed.”
In fact, he said, the county is expecting money from the state within the next few weeks.
The county’s Judicial/Public Safety Committee on Monday approved a $700,000 budget transfer to help the child-support system pay phone bills, temporary workers and the costs of computer software.
At a discussion on the matter, Kouba told committee members the county so far has spent $2.4 million to help solve some of the problems Circuit Clerk Joel Kagann’s office found itself in after taking over the state program last year.
Following a federal directive to consolidate the collection and distribution of child support, the state Department of Public Aid hired Kagann to open a central clearinghouse, based in Wheaton, to make the system more efficient.
Instead, the clearinghouse was overwhelmed, as thousands of checks were sent out weeks and even months behind schedule. Earlier this month, Kagann said his office would not bid again to run the system, which will be taken over July 1 by a private firm.
County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom earlier this year hired the private management firm of Deloitte & Touche to conduct an internal audit to determine how much money the county has spent on the clearinghouse. A final report by the firm is not yet completed.
Although the judicial committee approved the budget transfer, which still needs approval from the Finance Committee and the full County Board, some committee members expressed displeasure that no one from the clerk’s office was at the meeting.
“It shows a total discourtesy to this committee to come here with a $700,000 request and not to be here to answer questions,” said Dewey Pierotti (R-Addison).
Kagann, who was out sick on Monday, said he did not realize the item was on the committee’s agenda and said he would attend the Finance Committee meeting.
