Farmers Weekly Review

By Nick Reiher

The Will County Board approved a 2023-24 budget, but not without the usual storm and stress that comes with a body split right down the middle.

At issue was how much of the $815 million would be used toward salary increases and new hires for the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Public Defender’s Office, both noted as shorthanded and underpaid compared to DuPage County.
County Board Chair Judy Ogalla, R-Monee, said it’s not fair to compare DuPage with Will County.

But representatives of the State’s Attorney’s Office and the Public Defender’s Office made pleas on the board floor at the November 16 meeting, after learning their counterparts in DuPage recently received a hefty salary increase to $82,000 a year, some $20,000 more annually than those in Will County.

The disparity makes it difficult to attract and keep the best attorneys, the State’s Attorney’s and Public Defender’s representatives argued at the County Board meeting.

That led to some confusion and partisan arguments on the floor, as the board’s Finance Committee settled on $13.7 million for the State’s Attorney raises and additional hires. After hearing about DuPage’s raises, they now were asking for about $14.5 million, not including about another $1 million for benefits.

There was no discussion at that Monday meeting about the Public Defender’s Office getting money for additional hires, because their staff had said in a letter earlier saying they were considering contracting out for additional hires, said Finance Committee Chair Jim Richmond, R-Mokena.

After hearing the State’s Attorney’s Office was getting additional funds, representatives of the Public Defender’s Office told board officials at the regular meeting they were not only underpaid compared to counterparts in other counties, but severely understaffed, with each of the 50 attorneys there responsible for potentially hundreds of cases each year.

They added that contracting out for additional attorneys was to be a last resort since their permanent staff is unionized.
In the end, the Public Defender’s Office received an additional $250,000 it had initially requested to hire the contract attorneys. Richmond said they now likely will have to deal with the union on that issue during negotiations.

As for the State’s Attorney’s Office, the board approved the request for $14.5 million for salary increases and new positions. The sticking point for Richmond and the other Republicans was using $300,000 from the county’s more than $80 million in reserves to help pay for the additional amount.
Richmond said he had not heard about that until the vice chair of my committee (Sherry Newquist, D-Steger) called me the Wednesday before the County Board meeting to tell me her caucus had voted to use $300,000 from reserves.

He said the county never has used reserves to pay for salaries, which was confirmed at the board meeting by County Budget Director ReShawn Howard.

Republicans on the board already were upset with the amount of property taxes being levied for the 2023-24 budget.

The Democrats, who hold the majority when all are there and County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, also a Democrat, breaks a tie, pushed for and got a $17.9 million increase in the levy, $10 million of which is to help fund the new Will County Mental Health Board, approved by the voters in the county last year.

Republicans sought half that amount for the Mental Health Board and a total of about $10 million in additional property taxes.
Despite the increase in property taxes requested, the county’s portion of the tax rate is expected to drop from 0.5607 cents per $100 of assessed valuation this year, to 0.5480 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

Using that rate, the owner of a $200,000 home would pay about $36.50 a year toward Will County government. But overall tax bills still could rise due to increases from other taxing bodies, as well as increases in the assessed valuation of properties.
The budget passed after Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, a Democrat, broke the partisan 11-11 tie.

In a press release, Bertino-Tarrant said the budget allocates nearly $3 million in public safety and social services, using revenue from the Cannabis Sales Tax and funds from the multi-county opioid settlement. These allocations include the following:

• $450,000 – Housing Stabilization Program – Will County’s eviction diversion program to deter homelessness by working with residents who are summoned to eviction court.

• $180,000 – Workforce Services – Supporting a new re-entry program to connect those who have been through the criminal justice system with stable, long-term employment.

• $345,000 – Funding to support the Children’s Advocacy Center operations

• $200,000 – Sheriff’s Adult Detention Facility – Expanding mental health services to inmates.

• $750,000 – Problem Solving Courts – Supporting building improvement needs at recovery homes.

• $250,000 – Rapid Response Program – Increased support for the Health Department’s substance abuse program to address the ongoing opioid crisis.

Also included in the budget was over $10 million in capital projects. For the second year, the Will County Executive Office proposed capital projects to be funded using a long-term planning process that ensures the responsible allocation of funds.

These projects include $4.5 million to replace the roof of the Adult Detention Facility, $1.3 million to purchase modern tasers for the Sheriff’s Department, $385,000 to modernize the Health Department Community Health Center’s call center, and $150,000 to support local stormwater initiatives to improve water quality and flood mitigation.

Additional funding was also allocated for the County’s Will-Ride Program, which provides paratransit services in Eastern Will County. The $200,000 increased allocation will allow for implementation of short-term goals identified in the Access Will County paratransit study, which aims to improve mobility for seniors and people with disabilities.

The budget also allocates revenue from the County-owned Prairie View Landfill to fund Will County’s various high-demand recycling and reuse programs.

Also included is the first year of revenue from the County’s Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Plant, which repurposes landfill gas to be sold as clean transportation fuel. In its first year, the RNG Plant produced the equivalent of 133,341,000 miles (6,000,345 gallons of gasoline) in clean fuel for large transportation vehicles.

The budget year begins Dec. 1, 2023.

Nick Reiher is editor of Farmers Weekly Review.