The Kendall County Board this week issued $11.5 million in bonds to expand its jail and build a Health and Human Services Department building.
A $7 million bond issue will be used to add about 100 beds to the 60-bed Kendall County Jail, which has been troubled by overcrowding for years. Those bonds will be paid off with a portion of the proceeds from a half-cent public safety sales tax voters approved in April 2001.
A $4.5 million bond issue will be used to build the Health and Human Services building at the county’s Public Safety Center campus. That department rents space in Countryside Center.
The department’s rent will pay up to three-quarters of the cost of the building, while as much as $150,000 in annual general fund revenue also will be allocated to paying off the bonds during the next 20 years, County Board Chairman John Church said.
Construction on both projects is years away, but the board decided to issue the bonds because of low interest rates, Church added.
Approval of the two bond issues came the same day the board approved a fiscal 2002-03 budget of nearly $29.9 million. That budget has a deficit of about $2.7 million, which will be covered by reserve funds.
Even with deficit spending, the county expects to have about $3.5 million in general revenue fund reserves at the end of the fiscal year on Nov. 30, 2003, Church said. Other funds dedicated to purposes other than day-to-day spending, which the general fund covers, have more than $10 million in reserves, he added.
The deficit is nothing new. The current budget has a similar deficit. In light of economic conditions and relatively steady county revenue, officials plan to see in January whether they can reduce expenses.
Officials will look closely at new positions or hires. They also will address rising salaries, benefits and insurance costs, which are expected to rise by nearly 27 percent next fiscal year, Church said.
Increasing personnel costs led to the deficits. In next fiscal year’s general fund budget, which is largely driven by personnel costs, revenue is pegged at about $11.7 million, while expenses are estimated at nearly $13.9 million.
One other option to shore up the budget would be to increase fees for services, Church said.
“I hope we don’t have to do any layoffs or anything like that,” he added.
