It is 8 30 on Thursday, October 9th, 2025.

I'd like to call to order the Lake County Board's Financial and Administrative Committee.

Please rise and join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

I mean the States of America.

And through the Republic or Nation under God.

Member Clark?

Here.

Fair Frank?

Here.

Member Hewitt.

Here.

Member Maine.

Vice Chair Park.

Member Peterson.

Member Belitzek.

We have a quorum.

We're mostly all here.

I believe Vice Chair Park will be here shortly.

Do we have any addenda to the agenda?

We do not, but we do have the clarification on item 820.

Okay, I'll read that.

Thank you very much, Administrator Sutton.

Uh 8.20 on the consent agenda was approved at law and judicial on Tuesday the 7th, was inadvertently left off the original posted agenda for today's FNA committee.

The amended agenda posting did not meet the requirement for posting by the Open Meetings Act, and therefore that item cannot be acted on today.

Pursuant to county board rules, board chair Hart may add a committee items deemed time sensitive to the regular board meeting agenda with concurrence of the chair of the appropriate committee, which I have given.

So this item will be placed on the county board agenda for final action on Tuesday, the 14th.

We will not be taking action on that item today.

Thank you.

Any other unfinished business?

Yes.

Okay.

Great.

Um so we're proceeding to new business consent agenda items 8.1 through 8.29.

Obviously, not including 8.20 uh for the reference that I just read.

Any items that we need to pull from the convention.

Member Maine.

Yes, I'd like to pull 819.

819.

Any other items we're pulling off of consent agenda.

Member Bulitic.

Thank you.

Can I just pull off um 8.21 for further discussion?

8.21.

Anything else?

Okay.

So consent agenda items 8.1 through 8.29 minus those two items.

Motion by member Hewitt, second by Vice Chair Parek.

Comments or questions on those items.

Seeing none.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The items are approved.

8.19 is a joint resolution authorizing emergency appropriation of 21, 24, 200 from the state's attorney's office money laundering fund to pay salary infringed costs through the remainder of fiscal year 2025 for the conviction integrity unit director.

Motion on this item by member Clark, second by member Hewitt.

You have uh questions on the item.

Thank you.

I I did, and I reached out to the chair and our county administrator about this last night.

Um so I was just wondering.

Um, I think it said there's yes.

Um that the fund has a current cash balance of 33,000, so that's leaving 9,000.

You know, that's not gonna be enough to pay for it next year.

How were they gonna pay for it before?

Why are we seeing this change now?

Thank you.

So uh good morning, everyone.

I'm Joe Gerbitter, Chief Deputy of Administrative Services at the States Attorney's Office.

Um, so in the past, this position has actually been paid via a grant.

Um, we are in the process of waiting for a budget modification to be approved uh so that we can remain the subgrantee on the Illinois Innocence Project grant, and then that will go ahead and pay for the next year's worth of salary and benefits.

So this is merely we're just requesting this merely as a gap until that budget modification is approved.

May I continue, Chair, with my questions.

May I continue with yes.

So uh and maybe this is for administrative.

So once this is taken out, is the thought that this is a direct transfer.

And um, if you were to get that grant, there's there's not the money wouldn't be going back.

And what else is this fund used for?

Because I just thought that you know, our policy has been if the grant's not there, it goes away.

And so this is like, well, the grant's not there, but we can find other way, other monies, which I think is not how we've done those things before.

So I I'd like an understanding of why we're going to do things differently this time because that is our policy, right?

The grant's gone, the position goes away.

Unless other funding is found.

And in this particular case, the state's attorney's office was willing to use their special revenue funds under their cons custodial control to bridge the gap so that they wouldn't have to have a gap in service for that individual.

Okay.

How else are these funds used?

Uh so that is up to the discretion of the state's attorney.

They can be used for anything related to the enforcement of laws.

Okay.

And and the plan is then is that from an accounting and sort of purpose that is the grant comes back.

Will there be uh a new start date to that grant, or will it be retroactive to when you know covering these things from before?

Do you understand what I'm asking?

I do.

Okay, thank you.

So my understanding uh when talking with the um our contact at the IIP is that there will not be a retroactive date.

It will be from whatever date.

New date.

Okay, correct.

All right.

Any other questions?

Thank you.

All in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

8.19 is approved.

Thank you.

8.21 is a joint resolution appropriating a supplemental amount of 921,000 dollars of quarter percent sales tax for transportation funds and approving change order number four in the amount of 1,294,769 and 65 cents for the intersection improvement of Winchester Road at Illinois Route 83.

Motion to approve this item by member Clark, second by member of Litzik.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

I just wanted to, I was unable to attend PWT on Wednesday.

And because this borders my district and I often get questions, I do understand some of what some of the answers will probably be, but I think that it was worth um going over maybe one more time for this committee and for the public.

Director Schneider.

Sorry, up the the back I know there wasn't a question in there, but just generally why this is necessary.

And I do understand there's maybe a handshake agreement with the state.

So good morning, committee members.

Shane uh Schneider, County Engineer.

So this is an intersection improvement project that's currently underway.

It's at Winchester Road in 83.

The uh intersection is currently closed.

Um the work's about three quarters of the way done.

And on the south leg of Illinois 83, the contractor has discovered there's um additional unsuitable soil.

So it's basically a peat bog.

Um, that the limits were established during the design process by a geotechnical engineer.

They they did soil borings and they set the limits of where they thought the peat bog was.

Um, but through the work, the contractors discovered that that the limits are actually larger than was anticipated in in the design phase.

So the change order is to um to mitigate that soil, they'll remove a portion of it and then they'll install some additional aggregate rampiers, which is the shoring method they're using to stabilize the area.

Um, because this is uh a project with a state highway involved.

We've entered into an agreement with IDOT to cost share.

It's basically a 50-50 relationship, and we just did receive official word yesterday uh afternoon that the state is going to provide an additional $1 million in funding to help cover the overage.

That's great.

So I I thank you for answering that.

Um Director Schneider.

And I knew it was poor soil.

I didn't know it was specifically a peat bog.

Does did that require?

I mean, that's millions of years in the making.

Um does that require that might be an overstatement, but does that require separate environmental mitigation or anything like that?

Or how how and then did the new boring show the true extent of the bog?

And does any of it continue outside, will it in some way be protected?

Or are the do you know anything about that side of it things?

No, we don't, we didn't go to the effort to determine the overall limits.

We're just trying to establish the limits within our improvement area so we can mitigate them.

Um so you know, there is kind of wet areas adjacent to the roadway on both the east and the west side.

So probably some historic um drainage patterns before it was all farmed for the last hundreds of years.

Um but you know, there's really not an environmental mitigation process for this.

We're we're just providing a stabilization method so that um the road can be supported properly.

But it's you know, also probably just important to note that a portion of this area was under the existing highway already.

Mm-hmm.

Yep, got it.

Thank you.

Oh, I just want to say I was uh fortunate to listen to a really good conversation that took place at committee yesterday about this.

Um, and I appreciated the suggestion, maybe I think maybe as member main about do we want to look at increasing the parameters that we use when we're doing examination around soils for digging.

I didn't hear the conclusion of the conversation.

Is that something we're gonna consider in the future, Director Schneider?

Yeah, well, we will take a look at that.

And we are reviewing with the consultant, you know, their their approach and methodology for determining these.

But um, they did follow standards that are established by the state by IDOT, and this is under a state highway.

So um there's there's that point, which you know, we think is valid, but we are going to continue to evaluate and you know, look at lessons learned and if there's a modification to procedure that we think is warranted, we'll we'll definitely do that.

Great.

Thank you for that.

Any other comments or questions on this item?

Great.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

8.21 is approved.

We're now proceeding to our regular agenda.

Item, I think we're at uh 8.3.

8.30 is a resolution accepting the Illinois State Board of Elections polling place accessibility grant and authorizing an emergency appropriation in the amount of two 250,000 dollars for the specific purposes of making improvements to Illinois polling places for voters with disabilities.

Motion to approve this item by member Clark, second by member Hewitt.

Good morning, Clark Vega.

Good morning, Anthony Vega Lake County Clark.

Um, I'm really excited about this grant.

Um, we uh the Illinois State Board of Elections receives funding um and they dole out some uh money based uh to different counties to different election authorities based on proposals.

Um we tried to put in for this project last year and then got uh you know, we didn't get it, and we then we were notified that due to federal funding, they had no money to give out this year for polling place accessibility uh grants, and then they said we found money, but we have limited funding.

Um, and so we immediately worked together, I you know, reached back out to Carl.

We got everything together, submitted the proposal, and uh we got approved for the full amount.

I will on uh be honest, I did not think we were going to be a recipient this year because we were asking for 250,000 and they had very limited funds for 108 uh different elections offices.

Um this will make vast improvements to 18 North County.

Um, we know that you all know that 18 North County is one of our polling places because it is my office.

I must have a polling place here.

We also know that it's a challenge for people with disabilities to enter the building.

So not only will this benefit our voters, but this will benefit all of our constituents year-round for many many years to come.

Carl is here to explain to you the um ADA uh uh uh improvements.

Um, but this is uh I'll take any other questions.

Okay, it's a good news item, of course.

Yeah, but it does lead me to ask a few questions.

Um, Director Carr, if you could come up also maybe and be useful.

So first for you, Clark Vega.

Um, are these grants regularly available?

And is it something that your office could use to support access at other polling places that are not county facilities?

So I don't know what the future holds for this type of grant moving forward.

Um we get funding from the federal, the state gets funding from the federal government under Hava under the Help America Vote Act.

Um they were in the position this year where they didn't think they were going to be able to allocate uh money.

And so we don't know what the future holds for this particular grant.

Um but yes, theoretically, this can be used uh to support ADA improvements at other polling places, but they must be public buildings.

I couldn't use the money for for a church or a private enterprise.

It would have it would have to be a uh a public building last year's grant.

Um we did the parking lot at the Fox Lake volunteer fire departments, which has been a polling place for over 20 years.

And um, again, they had a volunteer organization, they you know, their parking lot was uneven, holes everywhere, and so we were able to to redo it.

Um, so that least for the next you know, five years, uh it's more answer.

I mean, um obviously non-government buildings, it's a challenge, but many of them are polling places and many of them are not accessible.

And um, I know you've heard from uh the voters in my area about that issue uh in the past as well.

So I think we want to continue to try and make improvements in this area.

Director Carrar, it this makes it seem like our building was not fully accessible.

Can you just explain like the standards and how we're improving accessibility here versus the standard that we were using previously?

Yes.

Carl Carrar, director of facilities and construction services.

Uh so what we're doing is we are repaving to well, we're at re two adding two different ramps down into the garage area.

The one on the Martin Luther King Jr.

Avenue side is ADA compliant, except for we need it was ADA compliant years ago.

We are improving that to repave it, add in the appropriate height, handrails, and make sure that the landing on the bottom is two standards.

Uh County Street side is not ADA compliant.

Uh there actually there isn't a sidewalk that comes in from the sidewalk area down into the garage.

Actually, the the only access point is to go up the ramp and the the ramps that come up to the north entrance are not ADA compliant.

It's too steep.

Uh so when we worked with uh Clerk Vega, we identified this as the easiest, most inexpensive way of making it fully ADA compliant from some for a pedestrian coming off the street that you could access both sides, get into the basement area of the garage, take the elevator up and you you become compliant.

Thank you for the response.

Other comments or questions.

Thank you for applying for this grant.

I know when I read this, I didn't realize how that it wasn't completely accessible here.

And it's so important.

You know this this grant can will help um not just voters, like you said, but like everybody entering the courthouse.

So I'm really happy to see it.

And I'm really glad to hear because I was curious exactly what the improvements were going to be.

Um I'm glad that the money can uh can go ahead and so it will it will cover all the costs of the improvements.

Yes, that is uh our our way forward, yes.

Yeah, all right, thank you.

Thank you.

See no other comments or questions.

All in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

8.30 is approved.

Thank you.

8.31 is committee action to approve job order contract project exceeding 350,000 for the Mundaline branch courthouse fire alarm replacement project in a not to exceed amount of 350,000.

Motion to approve by member Hewitt.

Right.

Second by member of Litek.

Good morning.

Uh so this project was actually part of our budgeted and funded capital budget process through the budget process last year.

Uh, we originally had this project as a joint purchase agreement.

And because of our policy in place for the job order contract, when we changed the strategy to go with job order with the jock program, uh, we are coming back to you today for approval on that project.

Uh it's also at that threshold of 350,000.

So that's why we're talking about it today.

Um, the reason why we're using Joc is because through the design of doing this, it wasn't just an equipment change out.

We actually had some carpentry, some electrical work that we added to it.

So because of the slightly expanded scope of the work, uh, we went with a jock program.

Plus, it's within a secure area within the the branch court and on a line that uh we we wanted to do that.

Uh just uh last note on this the work is a life safety item that we need to press on and replace this at life end of life, these parts can't be replaced.

So uh as you might imagine, a fire alarm system is rather critical to the operations of the building.

Thank you.

Member of Litek, Tower Plan member Hewitt.

I just want to make sure I heard right.

So I had flagged this one because it okay, so it's exactly at 350,000.

That's why the strange wording of the where approving okay.

Yes.

Okay, that exceed not to exceed the same.

So not to exceed amount of 350,000 because we are at that threshold.

I felt the safest just to bring it to you for it.

Okay, I would just want to make sure that's heard.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Member Hewitt.

Good morning.

If we cannot get replacement parts and do that, is there a lifespan that we should keep in mind for other locations?

So I don't know off the top of my head how old the building is.

I can get that information and provide it to you, but this building is at that 15 year point.

And that is actually about the end of the life cycle of when parts are manufactured and changed and so on.

And that's why, yes, we have flagged all these older systems, and we have been very diligent about going back and replacing them, renewing them, putting a new system in.

So this is not the first place we've done this with downtown.

We've done that to pretty much all the buildings down here.

We continue to identify those and program them in for replacement.

Thank you.

Member Clark.

Yeah, this seems like quite a project for 350,000.

And it sounds like it's a replacing a lot.

Does this also include like fire suppression systems like sprinklers or anything like that that needs to be?

It's part of the entire system, but this is primarily the panel that controls everything within the boom.

So the fire fire suppression, of course, ties into that, has signals and sensors and so on that tap into that.

So that will still be so the current one fire suppression system can be used with this new fire.

Yes, this time.

Yes.

And then it must be so he said it's a lot of work with like ceiling material.

So is it like replacing all the wires?

Like, it's it's primarily reworking the fire panel itself and the way it communicates and talks and ties into our uh security systems.

So not only the it's it's it's an upgrade of the the panel, and that that includes primarily the guts of the panel, but everything else that ties into it, how it communicates out.

That's that's the difference.

So these panels must be pretty expensive.

Yes, the equipment it is, it's all very expensive.

And then of course the the labor to install it correctly and have it tested and certified.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comments or questions?

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye, aye.

Any opposed?

8.31 is approved.

8.32 is a resolution authorizing agreement with FGM architects of Westchester to provide pre-design and schematic design, architectural engineering services for a multi-agency facility in Libertyville in the amount of $1,184,559.

Motion to approve on this item by member Clark, second by Vice Chair Pratt.

Uh good morning again.

Uh so if you recall in June, I presented and discussed the proposed multi-department facility at Libertyville and the potential options uh with on the campus there.

And just as a refresher, this facility is gonna support multiple departments, the sheriff's office, coroner's office, and then county clerk.

Um, and it's gonna be able to meet multiple capital needs that we've identified for the county here.

Uh so since June, we've interviewed multiple architect engineer firms.

Uh, we clarified the scope and design and negotiation negotiated a pricing based on all aspects of the project.

So this resolution awards the first two phases of the design, which is pre-design and schematic design.

And what this will do, it was it will allow us to refine uh the building scope and align it with available funding that we have for the project.

And then also we'll generate the estimated construction costs for the entirety of the project or portions of that.

Uh the schematic design specifically will be able to provide us the estimated construction cost based on pretty much different scenarios so that we cover and ensure that we cover all the requirements that the sheriff office has, the coroner's office has, and this warehouse and election office or election operations have for the county clerk.

It also touched on the site conditions uh and the parking and all the impacts to to Libertyville itself.

Uh it will also give us some decision points for the stakeholders and the board so that when we can really evaluate it in total to come up with the project scoping and align that with the funding that we're going to have available and programmed for this.

Uh quick on the timeline.

Schematic design is set to be complete in February.

Uh, we will be presenting updates to both LNJ and FNA through that time, but after the schematic design, we'll come back to you for those decisions and those as uh and direction moving forward.

Pending that approval design will be complete the November, December time frame of next year and construction possibly uh being awarded as early as June or July in 2027.

So this is a set process right in a row.

We'll keep moving forward.

Uh as I mentioned, our intention is to come back multiple times with updates on the design, not just through schematic design, but after that as well, so that you're fully informed of how we're moving forward.

And uh, we're only move forward with the final design when we earn complete stakeholder alignment, and that is with all parties, uh, the sheriff, sheriff itself, the coroner, county clerk, and of course, uh county administrator Sutton.

Uh, and then we will present those solutions and recommendations to the board here.

And so we align scope, the construction estimate, and the funding options for moving forward.

Uh and then, of course, pending your approval on that, we will move forward when we have your true guidance on how we want to proceed on to that.

So we're pretty excited about moving forward on this.

This is a project that we've we've spent the the last uh bit of a year working with the stakeholders to to align our thoughts and and uh and and scope on that.

So uh we're couldn't be more excited to press on, and we highly recommend approval this resolution to get started.

Thanks, Director Crawr.

So I I know we've talked about this project many times in different pieces.

I just want to ask you to elaborate on the process by which you got input from each of the partners who would be um operating here, specifically the coroner operations you know are very different.

The temperature control requirements, storage requirements, truck, dock, et cetera, things like that.

Your office engaged in, you know, uh conversations with them about the specifics that each of these partners need is correct before you did the bids.

Yes.

Bless you.

Uh yes, we we have uh in the coroner specifically, we've been working with uh the coroner's office for the better part.

Well, since I've been here for about six years, it's been a known fact that they're uh very compressed and their their location right there, they can't expand out and it can't go, they can't grow vertical.

Uh we've we tried with the uh the office there of expanding and provide them a little bit more square footage that turned out that the parking lot was great, but the building itself is really just turned into a storage area, it's not as useful as they wanted.

So we've we have identified their requirements of what they need within their building.

Uh the throughout this process, part of one of the subcontract, call it a subcontractor, but uh sub-designers of the of FGM, they are an expert when it comes to the design and construction of coroner's office.

Their offices, they've done many different ones across not just this state, but in the region and within the country.

So they are a subject matter expert when it comes to coroner's office design, and we will be engaging them and the coroners through this preliminary design and schematic design to make sure that that new building uh really encompasses everything that they have for requirements.

Great.

Thank you for that specific answer.

Um, but similarly, you've had other conversations with the sheriff and the clerk about their needs and what they what they're looking for in their spaces, right?

Yes.

Uh the the the county clerk's needs are somewhat simpler.

Uh they need warehousing space plus some administrative space for training and for the election equipment, some of the election equipment.

Uh the the sheriff's office, we have known about the requirements for some time.

We've had a preliminary design uh done in 2019, and we've taken those items and we'll be integrating them into essentially just a different footprint, but those requirements still exist, and we will be uh definitely revising those and updating them as we go through that pre-design process.

So it's just we're verifying and and making sure that everything fits together.

And then if there's overlap between the different departments and agencies, then we'll we'll try we'll take advantage of those overlaps.

Good.

Thank you for that.

Comments or questions.

Member Maine.

Thank you.

Um really more of a just a comment and uh, you know, this is a good project, and you've done great research.

And uh it just kind of highlights though the challenge we face because the original county seat was in Libertyville, and that's where we have a hundred acres and have put other things, but the county seat is now here in Waukegan, and we've got buildings and rentals, and as you say, all the buildings aren't necessarily functional for their use and they're being repurposed.

And yet there is that conundrum of what is the county commitment, and it's this is something that's been talked about for decades of moving county functions outside of Waukegan and our commitment to that.

I'm not saying there's any, you know, that it's it's a conundrum and it's a challenge, but I think we do need to recognize that that um, you know, as we move functions out of Waukeegan, those are people who are not coming into Walkegan.

Those are buildings that are not currently getting uh rent and resources and other things like that.

So um, but we owe it to our employees and to our constituents to have um an effective functioning government.

And it's it's unfortunate that we find ourselves in this conundrum in which we can't take care of both situations.

Just a comment.

Thank you.

Other comments or questions, Chair Hart.

Thank you.

Um we have had conversations with uh the mayor in his first term as well as in this term.

Um, and and he is supportive uh in particular of moving the coroner's office.

Uh certainly that was really what we were talking about.

Um and also um I really want to commend Carl for a few things, but I'm gonna just start with the rental space for uh Clerk Vega.

Um we often have things come before our board to pay for storage and um to be able to add things on to this building.

Uh, what could be a better place to keep our voting materials than attached to a building in which the Lake County Sheriff's Office is located?

So um, and I also just really want to say thank you to Carl because uh not only is he uh trying to find the best types of buildings um in his professional life while he's here at work.

Uh he's also doing it in his uh personal life.

And this building, I think you said you kind of had an idea for it because you were traveling all over the country for soccer games.

Yep.

Yeah.

So and I think you said, and maybe you can just expound on that, please.

Uh yeah, it I guess I'm an engineer, so my creativity works in square blocks, and uh it's it's kind of how I go.

I don't pick colors out, I don't pick uh fabrics out, but uh leave that to smarter people at me, more creative people.

Uh but yes, it was on one of the trips that I had with my daughter and her travel soccer team.

We go all over the place, and it happened to go by a uh it looked like a strip mall sort of function, and the sheriff that local community was actually occupying that space, and it was fully built out as a sheriff substation or primary.

I'm not really sure, but it was a whole fleet of sheriff vehicles parked out front.

And that just kind of struck me as well, that's a potential solution that we could use.

And then when Kane County, they created a um, they just recently built a multi-functional building which had the coroner's office and a sheriff primary storage area in it, plus some administrative.

It's like, well, that is an idea that we could steal and use here.

Uh, and it be and it became in a just a kind of a one called a stroke of lightning, but just an idea to expand evidence building north.

And there you go.

You have you can hit multiple capital needs with with one strike and one footprint, and uh it's an ability to save some money, create some efficiencies.

It's not as unique as a standalone building, but it provides everything that you need to press forward.

Thank you.

And if I if I just might um follow up, can you remind us, please?

There were some initial numbers about what you know things were maybe going to cost.

It's just ballpark, right?

It was the coroner's office and the sheriff's office.

We're still paying rent, but this building is going to be, was it like half as much?

Uh we we continue to investigate in it, and it really depends on how many things that we want to do when it comes down to cost.

Right now, our preliminary budget is 25 to 30 million dollars.

Uh, but that is really for two of the major functions of the building, not all three.

Uh, that is the coroner's office, full rebuild, and the sheriff's office, their uh consolidated public safety building.

Uh the warehouse function, we intend as part of this design to have it fully designed, but right now the funding doesn't quite align with that.

That is our that's where we're at today through the course of this and some of those funding options that we're going to bring back to you for for decision points.

That's when we'll come up with probably some unique solutions to how to get through the entirety of the building or a portion of the building and how it fits in with our funding, or if we have to uh maybe search for other funding options to get us there.

And that would include all the other things that we want to do, the the sustainability, uh geothermal solar, the those sort of functions, and and how the type of finishes or how this how big we want to build it.

So more to come on that.

Great.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for your work on this.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Chair.

Any other comments or questions on the item?

All in favor, please say aye.

All any opposed?

8.3.

One opposed.

8.32 is approved.

8.33 is a resolution create authorizing the creation of the circuit court clerk operation and administration fund.

And I know we're gonna have an amendment to this item.

Let's first take a motion to approve a point three three by member of Alitzik, second by Vice Chair Parek.

Uh motion to amend by member Clark.

Go ahead.

Clause in the resolution to state, whereas, in accordance with 705 ILCS 135 slash 10-5D3 and 705 ILCS ILCS 105 slash 27.3 D, the circuit clerk clerk, the circuit court clerk shall maintain a circuit court clerk operation and administration fund.

And the third whereas clause shall have the words special revenue removed.

That's my motion.

Member Clark, there's a motion to amend the item second by Vice Chair Parak.

Morning.

See if that's it.

Good morning, Chair Frank and committee members, Regina Tuzak, Chief Financial Officer.

So with regards to item 8.33, this resolution uh pertains to a recommendation that a fund be created for an allocation of fees that are collected that can be used for clerk operations and administrative fees.

The fund would provide transparency on the collection and uses of these monies.

The Illinois statutes provide that a fund can be created entitled circuit court, clerk operations and administrative fund, and this resolution establishes that fund.

I could Ms.

Ray Sutton.

If I may, just clarify um the changes in the amendments.

Um to kind of clarify there are two different ways that other circuit clerks have established this fund, a special revenue fund versus a custodial fund.

And just to try and um provide some background on that, it's primarily um two different places in the audited financial statements, but it's also a different way of handling the bank account.

So currently the circuit clerk's um collections are in a custodial account.

Those are um in the name of the circuit clerk, and there are circuit clerks in the state that also um establish this fund in that same manner.

Um there is also statute that supports uh the special revenue methodology.

So previously in my conversations with the circuit clerk, we were heading towards the special revenue fund.

This would also be an appropriate way.

And so we're still clarifying the appropriate method to establish this fund, but we um would very much recommend that we move forward with this creation of the fund, and then the classification classification of the fund will happen at a later time.

Thanks for the explanation, member Maine.

Thank you.

So what happens now is monies from those funds come in, you know, from our budgeting.

They come in and they go where.

I mean, monies from these these fees.

Where would they they're because they're being collected now, right?

Correct.

And where are those monies going in our budget now?

They're currently going to a custodial account in the name of the circuit clerk.

And they're always used by the circuit clerk.

Correct.

So I'm trying to understand why we need to create.

I I thought we really didn't like to have a whole lot of different special funds because it limits our abilities in the future.

Yep.

The revenue was previously uh included in the general fund.

And um because these funds are specifically by statute for use uh for operations, uh, we felt that it would be appropriate to ensure that they're in the budget book so that there was transparency of the amounts that were going into this fund and then um their availability for use to offset operations.

So they were previously in the general fund, and we're simply looking to split them out so that similar to other special revenue funds, we can ensure that you're seeing the ins and outs of this particular revenue stream.

So if we were to may I chair follow up thank you.

So if we were to go back and look at a couple budgets, there would be a line showing revenue into the general fund from these fees.

Yes.

And there's a corresponding line from the into the clerk's budget that would apples in, apples out.

That is exactly the problem.

There was a specific revenue line, but there was not a tie to a specific expense because it was offsetting numerous, you know, off operational expenses.

Okay, but that's going the my next step.

I'm saying we got money in, and then money went to the clerk's office.

And then your next step is saying once it went to the clerk's office, it could go in these different categories.

And we're saying we don't want them to, we don't want to allow that money to be used in different categories by the clerk.

We want to restrict how those monies could be used by the clerk's office.

Is that correct?

Or am I still muddled here?

Regardless of um which type of fund is established, either way, the circuit clerk is the custodian of the fund.

So the use of the funds, as long as they are in compliance with state statute, are under the discretion of the circuit court clerk.

Um I think there was a desire of the circuit court clerk to make it much more apparent which expenses we were matching up to that revenue stream so that in the event there wasn't an excess.

I think there was a desire of the circuit court clerk to make it much more apparent which expenses we were matching up to that revenue stream so that in the event there wasn't an excess.

I need to think about that.

And uh, in fairness to her, uh she she did make an effort to be here for the first part of our meeting, but she gave us advance notice.

She was not able to be here to have join us for the conversation.

Vice Chair Pride.

I think I guess mine was just ultimately the goals is for additional transparency of how the funds are being dispersed.

Correct.

Right.

Okay.

Yep.

So mechanistically, that's the goal ultimately.

And um, yes, the correction to the wording doesn't change that whatsoever, whichever methodology we have, they will be included in the annual financial statement, and that transparency will be there.

Yes.

That's a thank you.

Member Clark.

I feel like I'm more confused.

Um from this, if this is good.

So I just want just from my head.

Okay.

So when so this is like if somebody pays like a fine or something, is that correct?

Like where the money comes from.

Uh generic felony offense fees.

Okay.

Okay.

So it's from like, okay, so like offense uh offense fee.

So like a tick ticket or something if someone paid a ticket or um, well, it would be a felony.

Oh, a felony.

Okay.

So if someone pays their fees, and then from what I understand, the money then would go to the treasurer's office, and then the treasurer disperses the money to the different groups.

So then this is the money the circuit clerk gets like a cut of every thing.

It's five dollars of the $549 fee.

Okay, so they get the five dollars.

So after it goes to the treasurer's office, they get the five dollars.

And then from what I understand, correct, they'll get their so they get their like the five dollar fee.

And then so this, I guess this is what I'm trying to figure out.

So where that money then goes into an account, and and so where was it?

Was it going into so before it was just going into an account that this is what I guess I get understand that that wasn't in the budget or it was and and it wasn't named or like and then that's what like we didn't have an account?

That's what I'm if I may.

I I do have a little bit more history.

Um so I I'm going to cut in and just answer this.

So um previously the money was sent to the treasurer's office and it was mapped to go into the general fund within the circuit court clerk's budget to a very specific line item called clerk administrative fee.

I think it actually might say clerk admin fee.

I'm not positive.

And just to clarify that the um offense that Gina mentioned was one of many.

There are many offenses that this um fee, I think is applied to.

Um, and there may be um that may be somewhat of what the confusion is or the um potential difference in the statute.

Um, it may be different offenses in this fund are handled or described differently.

But in any event, what used to happen is that the revenue would come to the treasurer's office and it would be mapped administratively and accounting purposes to this specific um account and and maintained that way.

The problem was that we did not have specific expenses within the substantial circuit court clerk's budget in the general fund that were being applied against that revenue.

So, in order to create that ability to specify specifically how we were using this particular fee, um, the request was to create a fund.

Um in the meantime, the revenue now is going to a custodial bank account that was created by the circuit clerk, and that is where the money is going right now.

And and I think I almost got it, and so that money, so it's really just now that money, because there's there's money in the account.

Yes.

So now the money in the future then will be included as part of the budget.

That is correct.

And it wouldn't be in a separate, like a bank account somewhere else, or it would be in an account.

Actually, this I don't know.

Is it in a bank account?

Like, do we keep our stuff in a bank account?

It would be like in a separate bank account.

I never thought about the account part, but then now it'll be included in their revenue, or maybe before it wasn't.

I don't know if that's a good idea.

Again, it is for that purpose for budgeting that we are doing this.

The accounting treatment um will remain the same regardless.

Um, it will be treated differently if we determine that it is a custodial account or a special revenue fund.

But either way, the idea was to include this in the budget so that the operational expenses of the circuit clerk's office could utilize that stream to offset some of their expenses.

Okay, because there is money in the account for going forward already.

There's already a balance, yes.

Okay, thank you.

Thanks.

So the um the one of the reasons we need the special fund to document how the funds are used on the the expenditure side is because there's statute that govern how that can be used, right?

So we exactly to be able to know you have a hundred dollars and it's going to this thing that it is supposed to be used for.

So I get that part.

Um then the fund that it's in or the bank account that it's in now, we don't have eyes on that.

Is that part of this problem?

Like we, the board and we, the public, we don't know what that amount is.

No, that is it.

The fund is um included in the circuit clerk's audit.

Okay.

So it is um audited and it was included in the circuit clerk's audit.

Those funds, though, were not being presented to you in as part of the budget process.

And so primarily what we're trying to accomplish here is create a fund structure that does segregate the revenue and the expense so that we can prove that we are utilizing it in accordance with statute, and also just have awareness of all of the funds that are available to the circuit clerk for operations.

Is the way I'll try to figure out sometimes I'm too blunt or I don't know how to ask this.

Is the way where the funds are now not being presented to our budget?

Is that following?

Um is that following statute?

Um, most of our funds are listed in the budget book.

Um I I can't speak to whether that is specifically stated in statutes.

Custodial funds um under the discretion of elected officials, you know, are handled differently.

For example, all of the property taxes that come into Lake County are in a custodial fund for the treasurer and not kept with the county's books.

Similarly, the circuit clerk's revenue that she collects on a daily basis is kept in a separate fund and bank account that is not going through the treasurer.

So I I don't have the answer to that question.

The whole purpose here though was to just improve the transparency for all parties.

Got it.

Thank you.

I have a partial answer, which is my understanding of the way statute is constructed, which is that certain funds designated under the clerk of the court are are guided specifically by statute.

I'm not aware of sections of statute that specify how counties budget specifically.

Sure, right.

Yeah, I'm not aware either.

And I really truly don't know.

We follow our policies and and you know, guidance for best practices, you know, for GFOA, et cetera.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Chair Hart.

Thank you.

So I just want to be clear.

So essentially there is this fund has been created today.

It was created in 2024.

Right?

There's about I think $500,000 in there.

Something to that effect.

Yeah, the bank account was established for this fund.

Um today we're talking about an accounting fund.

So I I need to be very clear.

Um it the fund, yeah.

I guess I guess what you're saying is true, yes.

Okay.

So the fund has established, been established.

Um, and so I might say uh without direct knowledge or whatever, it was established.

And during the budget process, it was like, oh, what happened to all the revenue that we would normally see going into our general fund here?

There's no revenue.

So what happened?

Well, a fund was established that I I would say, even though something has been audited, we don't really have insight into as well as we do for those other funds that we do have oversight of.

And I was gonna bring this up earlier, member main.

You had brought something up, I think about special revenue funds in general, but I I am interested in just there's I don't know, what do we say, two million dollars in special revenue funds maybe every year, maybe it's more.

Um, just to make sure that you know that we do see how that money is spent and that um not because we think anything untoward is going, it is happening there, but there are certain offices that are um not open to the public, right?

That you can't FOIA them.

I assume state's attorney's office, I would assume the the judges probably clerk of the circuit court, others.

So how if a resident wanted to say, hey, how is that money being spent?

How do they find that out today?

You would have to look at the audit of the circuit clerk.

But that audit of the circuit clerk, is it itemized for every expense?

It does show that there has not been any expenditures in that fund during fiscal year 24, which was the most recently completed audits.

Got it.

Thank you.

And I I guess I'm even talking more broad-based.

Any audit of those special funds, um, do they show each expenditure in an audit?

Like, hey, they bought, you know, hey, no, it's it's not an itemized break.

It's not as no uh visible to the public, and you can't FOIA it because of the design of that office.

So I I'm I'm in favor of this move, but I I want to make it clear, I think to this board that this fund had been established.

Um now we're sort of bringing it into, I don't even know the correct verbiage, right?

But to provide greater transparency for the public and for the county board.

So thank you.

Member Maine.

All right.

Um taking all this in, trying to figure out what I understand and what I don't.

So the fund was a step last year.

Wow, 2024.

All right.

When we went through the budget process and got to the circuit clerk's budget.

Was that were those monies in this account?

Was that considered as part of the clerk's budget?

Or was that outside of our consideration of the clerk's budget?

That revenue had been zeroed out, correct?

That is correct.

Yeah.

Mike Wheeler, budget director.

So like if you were to compare 20 last two years ago budget with the last year's budget, you would have not seen that as a revenue stream, and yet the revenue existed over here.

Is that is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

Okay.

I think we have thoroughly shaken the tree of understanding on this one.

Any other comments or questions?

Uh, the first vote will be on the amendment as offered by member Clark.

All in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed.

The amendment is adopted.

And now we will take a vote on item 8.33 as amended.

Uh, any other comments or questions?

All in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed, 8.33 as amended is approved.

8.34 is resolution approving updates to the finance policy, 3.5 budget development policy to make clarifications for the development of the fiscal year 2026 annual budget.

Motion to approve by Vice Sharper, second by member of Litzik.

Good morning again.

Thank you.

Yes, with respect to um item 8.34, um, there's a couple of revisions or clarifications that are recommended to policy 3.5 budget development policy in connection with the development of the fiscal year 26 annual budget.

First, section 5.9.8 is revised to indicate that not all vacant positions of 12 months or greater would be eliminated in the budget process, uh, but rather those positions that have no evidence of active recruitment by the department.

So this ensures that if a department has been actively recruiting, or perhaps they have an offer that they're about to extend or is on the cusp of being able to secure a candidate, uh, that that position is not eliminated.

Okay.

Next, section 5.9.9 provides a minimum and a maximum wage increase for non-union employees in connection with the fiscal year 2026 budget.

So, in accordance with the policy, uh, the minimum and maximum levels were established based on the consumer price index, historical actuals, and comparables to peer entities.

The maximum uh recommended established amount is 4%, and the minimum is 1.75%.

Um the amounts that would be awarded to each employee would be determined by uh the department head.

However, the total amounts awarded cannot exceed the 3% departmental lump sum that is included in the draft budget.

Um this policy provides for consistency across the departments in terms of what can be awarded across the county.

It is designed to reward high performers, but also provides a cost of living increase for each employee.

And last item is Section 5.9.10.

That provides that the wage tables for non-union wages and salaries shall be increased 1.75 for fiscal year 2026.

This applies to both the minimum and maximum levels of each range.

And this increase is consistent with the minimum increase that's um included in section 5.9.9.

So that concludes my prepared remarks.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you for the explanation of the items included in the resolution.

Any questions on the items on the amendments to budget development policy?

Seeing none.

All in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed, 8.34 is approved.

8.35 is your director's report.

Thank you.

One item that I wanted to bring to the attention of the committee.

On September 15th, Moody's published what's called an issue or comment on Lake County.

It's kind of like an annual reaffirmation.

The purpose of the issue or comment is to provide an update on the issuers, which is like county financial and operating information within the context of Moody's methodology.

Typically, these are published annually or some type of regular recurring schedule.

The last one was published a little over a year ago.

And I'm pleased to report that Moody's reaffirmed the county's triple A rating, which applies to obligations judged to be of the highest quality with minimal risk.

Using publicly available information, Moody's calculates and publishes various information pertaining to Lake County, including key indicators on the economy, financial performance, leverage, and fixed costs.

Congratulations.

Thank you for sharing the announcement of the news with us.

Congratulations to the administration and the entire finance team.

I didn't see a press announcement on this, but it would be great if we did one.

Something to celebrate that we're reaffirmed again.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

8.36 is a resolution authorizing a contract with data integrators of Fredericksburg, Virginia for printing and mailing of real estate tax bills for Lake County Treasurer's Office in the estimated annual amount of 34,270 with renewal options.

Motion to approve on this item by member Clark, second by member Hewitt.

Good morning, Stephen.

What are we doing here?

Good, good.

So the motion before you guys today is based primarily on our previous vendor.

Not going through the bidding process.

Uh went through this process.

They decided to not go with the bidder that purchasing had recommended the lowest responsible bidder and just kind of go off and do their own thing.

So that tradition carried on until today.

So we went through the bidding process with purchasing and data integrators of Virginia was the lowest responsible bidder.

They seem to meet our office's requirements.

And so we are proposing that we move forward with this vendor.

So thank you for the explanation.

So it's a new vendor for mailing of the tax bills.

Any concerns about changing systems, that there will be any glitches or unforeseen challenges.

Yeah, so it was something I was hesitant to dive into just because it's kind of a if it's not broken, don't fix it.

So I was hoping that our current vendor would come in lower and we were able to kind of keep things status quo because there has been minimal issues.

So we went through Michael and Purgasine did a great job reassuring all my anxiety and making sure that they had the things in place to kind of take us there.

One of the biggest items is that we offer e bills.

Um so uh residents of Lake County can elect to um not receive the paper copy of their tax bill and instead get a PDF emailed to their email address.

Um, this company has ensured us that um they work um in the public uh sector space uh uh a lot.

They send out e-notices for um utility bills and things of that nature, tax bills with other counties.

Uh so it's something that they're used to.

Um so we'll once um assuming um we get your blessing and move past the full board.

Um so we'll once um assuming um we get your blessing and move past the full board, uh we will begin to work with them on integrating the data from the previous vendor so that there's a seamless exchange for everybody that's currently getting their tax bill emailed to them.

That's the biggest concern.

And then the second concern is just making sure that first year uh goes smoothly.

So that's why we're here in October.

We really this process is something that's um and it's it's uh heaviest part of the workload is March and April, uh getting those tax bills uh mailed out by May 1st uh per state statute.

Um so we're we're trying to get an early start on it and make sure that everything is smooth with the new vendor and that there's no hiccups.

Great.

Thank you.

Question.

Member Clark, member main, member evolutions.

Yeah, I know.

And you said it seemed to be okay.

I maybe that made me a little nervous.

Um, what was the other what was your last vendor?

I was looking at the bid.

Uh their company uh was called Master's Touch.

And they did they bid or uh they did, yeah.

Um they came in a a little bit higher.

Oh yeah, oh yeah, 48,000.

And so hopefully, but it seems that seems, I guess, because you said too.

So it seems that this should be okay.

So this company knows how to do from what it, but you understand this company does know how to do tax bills and they can do the things you need.

Is that right?

Yeah, it's they're they're familiar with the space.

Um, so uh again, that's why uh I stressed the purchasing that I really wanted to get this um in front of you all as early as possible so I could begin working with the new vendor and making sure they understand.

Um obviously, you know, every one of their clients um, you know working in the government space has important deadlines, so I'm sure they're familiar, but uh again, this is this is a big one for us.

Um, you know, making sure that those tax bills hit the hit the mail um by the by the state statute 30 days prior to the first due date.

Um so yeah, we'll work with them on that.

And I think that um if this if this can go move forward uh, you know, in in October, November to the full board and allow me to get working with the new vendor by December, we should be in a really good place to make sure that if there are any hiccups that we can work them out.

And I thought it's got a two-year potential renewals.

So that would you would have to decide if they were like both sides can decide if it were going forward.

Right, if they were meeting the county's needs um and making, you know, doing a good job, I would assume we would just continue to roll forward with them.

If not, we'd probably bring something back.

Well, yeah, I'm glad to see going out to bid because I know sometimes they stay with the same people, and then you know it is it is a substantial over three years amount of money that is being saved, and that's all taxpayer money.

So I think hopefully that it sounds like this is a qualified company, and I'm glad I'm glad thank you for going out to bid and making this happen, saving money.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Uh a few questions and comment.

What percent of the tax bills are being sent that now electronically?

Um per percent uh I don't have, um, but there's several thousand people that had elected to use it.

Um, I believe uh over over three thousand individuals.

Um, and we send out about two hundred and sixty thousand tax bills.

So not not not that great.

Yeah, I'm one of those three thousand, and I actually find it kind of awkward.

I I found like it was gonna be easier for me to miss my bill, like almost having that paper in front of me, and I may switch out of that.

I don't know.

It just it's like you get this, and it's kind of weird.

It's kind of weird the way it comes in, especially with so many scams these days.

And it's like click this.

I'm like, was that the name of the people?

So um it's great that you offer it, but I think is there a way to opt out of that?

Because that I just found and I'm fairly tech savvy, but just with all that stuff, I I'm not surprised.

Well, I am surprised it's 3,000.

And I I'm not sure I would personally say, yeah, go do it.

It's it's really great because it's it's kind of awkward to you.

I thought it was awkward to use.

Well, um, yeah, um, I am sorry about that.

And yeah, we we run into that from time to time um with utilizing different vendors, um just making sure you know, people being a little bit leery with how many scams and AI things there are these days, um making sure that this is indeed communication sent from the county treasurer's office.

Um and anybody that does receive it mail or PDF, even if you lose your email, you could always go to the treasurer's website and pull another PDF version um and save it.

Um print it out, whatever you needed to do.

So then my follow-up, so if this is just for the email part.

No, this is so the bid, the bid the bid is uh for for printing.

Yeah, the email is just uh an additional service that they provide.

It was something that we stipulated needed to be um available.

I I just maybe going forward if if the number stays at 3,000, are you is it worth it offering that?

I mean, because 3,000 out of you said 260,000.

That's yeah, pretty small.

We're like one percent.

So for us, the largest cost.

So you see that it is uh the contract is proposed at 34,000 roughly.

Um the largest cost actually associated with this is the the postage.

Oh, right.

No.

So so additionally, um, we spend um close to 200,000 a year um in postage um associated, regardless of who our vendor is.

Um postage costs is continue to go up.

Um, so that's 60,000 attributed to our final notices, 140,000 attributed to the first mailing of the tax bills.

So anybody that opts out of that is saving the county money.

Um, so and I think many people that elect into that are people that are on escrow just kind of want to take a peek at it and see what's changed and then forget about it.

And yes, you can opt though.

Thank you.

Member for what's okay, Chair Hart.

Thank you, and thanks for your thorough explanation.

I was trying to see in the bid summary.

Um, I can't remember what you call it when you can put those little narrow pieces of paper inside the tax bill to kind of um give it a buck slip, yes.

Buck slip.

Buck slip.

Is that if you wanted to do a buck slip, would that be included in this cost?

Um no, so to to typically there's if we it we haven't done a buck slip since since I've um been in this position, but if we would, we would send them a proof of what we wanted.

They will provide an estimate of the additional costs.

I'm sure that it's something that they do.

Um, but uh no, it's it's not included in that cost, but it is not very expensive.

Um last time I think we looked at it um for something for county administration, it was close to a penny, a penny per buck slip.

Um, so it's a good opportunity if we have any county information that we want to get out to all the residents.

Um, you know, it's we're already sending it, we're already paying for the postage, so make sure you uh ask me about it in March.

Okay, so March.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Vice Chair.

Yeah, and I I don't want to get off topic here, but remember Maine brought something interesting about the the email.

So for a physical mailing, we're talking roughly 250,000-ish dollars.

Um twice a year.

So what so we we send out the so there's two, there's two installments, but it's all there's two, it's perforated, so there's two slips on the bottom.

So we only send out one tax bill.

The postage for that is about a hundred this year it was a hundred and thirty-nine thousand dollars.

Um, then uh anybody that hasn't paid, uh, so we publish uh a real estate tax calendar every spring.

Um, and there's a final date to uh pay to avoid publication and final notices.

Um we have to pay uh additionally for the postage of those final notices to be sent certified mail.

This year was about 7,000 um that we were working on um this week.

Uh they should be hitting the mail next week.

Um, and that was sixty thousand dollars.

So I guess my my point being that it's real money ultimately, it's environmentally we're using a lot of paper to do all of this, right?

And I would say we was should try to encourage movement to electronic, assuming that saves money.

Agreed.

So I think we maybe we try to find it being less awkward, um, less scam-like and more uh something that we all kind of expect and rely on.

Like my I've pretty much removed all my bank statements, right?

From my my banks.

So uh and well, I mean, pretty much everything I'm trying, I don't want mail.

Right.

And and so I I think we should really try to make an effort because we're talking over course of five years, you know, upwards of a million dollars that we can either use somewhere else or return to the taxpayers.

So I would encourage us to try to eliminate as much as possible.

Some people will always want physical paper, but increasingly we should we shouldn't make that the form uh of to use.

I I agree.

I think the county benefits from more people switching over to e notices.

Um, and this, you know, switching over to a new vendor could be an opportunity to streamline the process and get some get some more uh you know social media and otherwise hits out about trying to sign up for it.

Thank you.

Great.

Thank you.

Seeing no other questions, comments, all in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, eight point three six is approved.

Thank you.

Thank you, Steve.

8.37.

Is going to give us a presentation on fiscal year 2026 recommended annual budget.

Good morning, and thank you.

Yes, today's overview is just a high level overview of the fiscal year 26 budget process.

What you're seeing here is the cover of the budget book.

It looks a little dark on the screen, but when you see it on the cover, it's a nice pretty dark green color.

The theme this year is building a sustainable and collaborative future.

So you'll find that that theme kind of runs throughout the narrative portions of the budget book.

Again, today is just a high level overview.

And of course, we'll go much further into the details during the budget meetings.

And I just wanted to give you some tips as you get that budget book and start to look at it.

So that's what we are covering today.

As you can see, we're on the home stretch here.

And we'll have the books available for you if you prefer a hard copy, hopefully next week.

Our budget meetings are October 21st and 22nd, and we're hopeful for county board approval at the November 18th county board meeting.

Here's the overall summary.

In total, the budget is a total of 673.4 million dollars, which is a 2.2% increase over the prior year's budget.

I'd like to focus your attention on the very first line there, the property tax operating funds.

The departments, um, I'd like to give a shout out to all of the departments.

We had aggressive targets set during the budget preparation process this year, and that allowed for us to um keep the operating budgets at a very stable amount with only a slight increase over 1%.

So we're very proud of that work.

Um again, we're utilizing that contingency strategy, um, trying to ensure that all of our departments are just budgeting for a normal year, and then we're um building our contingency in the general operating expense budget so that we're just having a countywide contingency rather than each department building that contingency into their own departments.

Um of the things I want to draw your attention to is there's a 10% increase in special revenue funds that does um include a change in methodology of how we are budgeting the workforce development group for a couple of years.

We had um decided to just emergency appropriate the workforce budget when they got that, because of course their federal fiscal year is not aligned with the county year, but we did run into some challenges with that methodology.

And so we've gone back to um budgeting the normal amount.

So that's accounting for a portion of that increase.

The other um thing that I want to point out where there was a methodology change is in the capital project fund.

You'll see that it's recording a 61% decrease compared to last year.

The change in methodology there, which we'll go into a lot deeper at the meetings, is that uh for facility assessment projects, we're really kind of contemplating what we're actually gonna spend next year.

So just like with all capital projects, there's a design phase and then a construction phase.

And historically, we had been budgeting the full amount.

Um, but that led to the spikes that you're seeing kind of in in that number right there.

And so the methodology that we're utilizing now kind of right sizes that actual amount that we are going to be able to spend on those facility improvements, rehab and repairs.

Um the only other thing I want to mention is the uh 16% increase in the enterprise funds.

That's our public works fund.

Um, in accordance with the public works five-year plan that you've approved, they do have a fair amount of capital projects, which they've included in their budget for this year, which they're excited to talk to you about.

The notable changes, considerations.

Um, our revenue really has leveled off as a reminder.

We did use only half of the proper allowable property tax increase, which was a 1.45% increase.

And then our economically sensitive revenues have kind of they've they've got a small growth, but certainly not keeping up with the pace of personnel.

And in addition, our fines, fees, and charges are leveling off.

So again, we're finding that there's not an upward slope as much as there had been in those categories.

In the expenses, I just wanted to point out to you that as a reminder in fiscal year 25, the compensation study did not get approved until the very end of the budget.

So that lump sum amount was placed into general operating expense, the GOE account.

And so you're going to see some pretty large personnel increases when you compare from this year to last year.

And we will explain that to you as they come forward to you.

But as you're looking at that book initially, you might see some larger increases, but it's because we did not put those compensation study increases into each of those departments.

We're actually moving them over as needed into the departments.

We did include a 3% increase in non-union wages and furthermore, all union increases in approved collective bargaining agreements have been included.

We did talk to you about a fairly significant health insurance increase, but fortunately that was offset by favorable pension contribution amounts to IMRF, particularly in SLEP, which is the higher contribution amount.

And then finally, I just want to remind you that part of another reason why you are seeing a little bit less in the technology in our CIP as well as facilities, is just because we are continuing with the ERP implementation into fiscal year 26, as well as making sure that we're completing all of our ARPA programs and projects.

So we didn't also want to bite off more than we could chew in in fiscal year 26.

Just wanted to share with you a very, very high level of where the money comes from.

As you can see here, property taxes makes up less than a third of our overall budget.

Other taxes makes up about a quarter.

Charges for service and intergovernmental revenues, which is our grants and other, primarily in the health department, they call them other things, but they are managed care contracts or other intergovernmental payments.

And each of those make up around 15%.

This is very consistent with prior years.

Where the money goes, again, like most government organizations, the bulk of our spend is in personnel and benefits, which makes up approximately 42% of our overall budget.

Capital is 17%, which is a little bit of a decline compared to last year.

And then services and contracts makes up another big bulk of at about 35%.

I do want to point out that debt service is still only 4%, even though we've added the ROC building to our debt service.

So on the expense side, we see a 2.2% increase in total.

And you can see on the revenue side, we're showing a 3.5% increase in total.

As I mentioned, we have a 3% increase scheduled for non-union employees.

So you may wonder why you're seeing a 4.42% growth in total personnel in total.

But again, I want to remind you that some of our collective bargaining agreements do have higher amounts.

And also they may have a step increase as well.

So they may have that COLA increase as well as a step, which adds up to more than what the non-union budgeted increase might be.

And some of those employees are in new program requests.

So that will obviously be subject to your approval.

Speaking of new program requests, we're not going to go into the detail today, but we did receive 41 requests, totaling 10.6 million dollars for fiscal year 26 alone.

And then, of course, we don't want to make short-sighted decisions.

So we do ask for the departments to project out the five-year spend and the five-year cost of those NPR requests was just over 33 point 33.2 million dollars.

There are 12 recommended requests.

Not all of them are fully recommended.

There are some partial, and we'll of course explain all of those explanations.

As a reminder, you did ask for us to provide to you a second scenario.

We budgeted and balanced at 1.45% of the property tax, but we did include another scenario for your consideration.

And so there are additional new program requests that are recommended in scenario two.

In addition, this year, there are a number of new program requests that will benefit from some additional time and kind of seeing how things play out.

Some of those are grant-related, some of those are waiting for certification for various purposes.

And others, as I just mentioned, you know, we're using a cautious approach, and we can address those after fiscal year 26 gets up and running and see if some of those need to be more fully funded.

So a lot more detail will be provided on the new program requests, of course, during the budget meetings.

The impact on the tax levy, and this slide is using the half of the allowable PTEL amount.

So that does increase the tax levy by 3.6%.

And as a reminder, the county's portion of the overall tax bill remains only about 7%, depending on the um uh where you live.

And the impact to the homeowner.

Note that I did increase the average home value to reflect um an increase overall of home values here in Lake County.

Um, the average home value is $330,000.

And in prior years, you did ask me to assume that that home value increased.

So in this example, I'm assuming that the home value increased by about 3%.

Um, so the increase to this homeowner in this particular case, using a whole bunch of um you know contingencies and and estimates is an increase of approximately $9.

As a reminder, as I mentioned, we are going to present to you the alternate balancing scenario, which would add another 2.7 million dollars worth of property tax, and included in that alternate balancing scenario are seven additional new program requests, as well as some additional contingency.

As you well know, there is some uncertainty in some of our federal funding streams.

And so it would probably be behoove us to put some additional funding into the contingency just in case um something were to go unfunded.

The county board decided that they wanted to find another way to fund.

So the next step, as I mentioned, is the release of the budget book, which we hope to have out on our website very, very soon.

Um we no longer produce them unless you request them.

I know for the budget meetings, often it's very handy to have a notebook in front of you that you can page through.

So we will provide that option.

We'll be reaching out to you shortly to see if you would like to have a hard copy budget book, and we can have that to you.

Hopefully, by Tuesday at the county board meeting, it can be waiting for you in your mailbox.

So we'll be reaching out to see if you're one of those that would prefer the paper copy.

The next major step is the annual budget meetings on October 21st and 22nd.

As a reminder, those are online on Zoom, and you can our public can watch those live, or else go back and watch them after the fact as well.

The uh November board meeting is on November 18th, and then of course, our new fiscal year starts on December 1st.

So, again, I'd really like to thank the departments.

Um, it's been a great process working with them and kind of weaving that theme of sustainability and collaboration throughout the entire budget process, and we all look forward to presenting the fiscal year 26 budget to you.

Happy to address any questions.

Thank you, Ms.

Hair Shutton.

You probably said this, but as a reminder, our budget meetings will be here on Tuesday, October 21st and Wednesday, October 22nd.

We will be starting at 8:30 a.m.

both days.

I think we anticipate the first day will be longer, and we'll anticipate that we'll try to finish before the end of the day on Wednesday, as we did last year.

But we're just scheduling the two days this year.

We no longer have that third day to wrap up.

Comments or questions on the overview.

Well, thanks and questions related to that.

I will wait till the presentation.

So that was a great overview.

It's a comment.

And you have the unfortunate uh situation in which we went over the forest preserve budget, and I saw a graph and I had a question, but it's it or a comment and it's coming here, and it could go to the forest preserve, it could go any place.

Um, it's really when we talk about what percent we are of somebody's bill, and my understanding is we arrive at that seven percent, we say this is how much the count the treasurer takes in, and this is the percent of that that is for Lake County, right?

So I just want to say I'm not sure there's another way to do it, but it's kind of misleading because we all know the schools are the most, and if you look at those three biggest pieces of that pie, there's unit school districts, there's elementary school districts, and there's high school districts, all right.

And no one pays into all three because you're either in a unit district or you're paying into a high school and an elementary school district.

So uh it's the minimus if there's a fire protection or those other things, but the schools are such a big percent.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

Is that our actual part of essentially everybody's tax bill is going to be more than seven percent because no one is paying all those bigger parts?

I don't think there's a way around it, but I just thought we should be aware of that because we say that, and then everyone's gonna look at their bill and go, yeah, we're you're more than seven percent of my bill.

So you might be 12% of my bill.

So I just I just think we need to be a little cautious on either.

So the same would be for the forest preserve.

Well, we're not two percent for that same reason.

We're double counting the largest portion of the taxes collected, and that is the school districts.

That's all.

Thanks for that.

Um, I do have one question about something you mentioned, Administrator Sutton, which is regarding you know, some uncertainty in some revenues.

Obviously, we're aware that there's uncertainty on some direct federal grants, but I'm just curious to know are we starting to see any slowing of economic driven uh revenues?

Uh the state, other counties, and I've noticed other states across the country are starting to express um that they're seeing declining revenues based on some economic factors.

Um I'm just wondering, are we seeing that at all?

Or is it not showing up in our revenues yet?

Yeah, we're definitely seeing that in fiscal year 25.

So that is why you're not seeing much growth in our budget for fiscal year 26.

And we can definitely show you line by line where we're seeing that the most when we start to break down into that detail.

Right.

Appreciate that.

Other comments or questions, vice chair.

Yeah, I just had a question on member main's comment.

So the the 7% that we've been generally saying is not accurate for the average homeowner.

Right.

I guess you understand what I'm saying about the pie.

If you look at you understand what I'm saying about that pie.

But I think that the pie needs to be reflective that you either have a unitary, a secondary, or it has to but we we know because we collect all the revenue.

Yeah, so we know how much revenue we're collecting, and we know all the homeowners, and we could do the math.

I I think it'd be complicated because you'd have two pies, right?

So let me let me interject here.

Is the methodology such that we're saying of all tax revenues, property tax revenue collected in the county?

Lake Counties is seven percent of that total aggregate dollar.

That's not what we say.

Yeah, no, I um honestly what we do is try to go out and look at tax bills through various sections of the county and divide the county lines by that total tax bill, and then we show an average.

That is the methodology that we utilize.

I don't use the aggregate amounts now.

What you're doing seems to me to be accurate.

I I feel like it's I mean, honestly, you any time you talk about the impact on a homeowner, you are guessing.

And you know, anybody's six personal experience on their home could be very, very different, even from their neighbors, much less another community on the other side of the county.

So this is this is really just an estimate, but we do try to um do our research to show what the actual experience is on a property tax bill.

And I personally I just I think this is important because I do say this a lot.

So I want to make sure that what we're saying is generally accurate.

And I think the process administrator Sutton laid out of looking at an actual tax bill and then making sure that when you look at enough of those that we tend to be in the 7%.

It won't always be seven, obviously.

It'd be weird if it always was.

But generally speaking, um, not of all the taxes we collect that's 7%.

It is of the homeowners expenses that they see that we're roughly 7%.

That's I think that's what we're doing.

That makes me feel better.

Otherwise, I said we would need to change the methodology of how we discuss this.

I was just that's great, but then don't we usually show a pie graph?

The dollar thing makes sense, but a lot of times you see, and maybe we don't use them, the pie graph that shows.

I mean, they had it at the forest preserve.

Maybe we don't.

You know what I'm saying?

I've got that pie graph.

Yeah, that pie graph also shows 7%.

Right.

And so that's saying what I said.

Now maybe they line up, but we've been away.

Have to watch.

You'll notice the graph we just highlighted the county's 7%, and we don't put the other slices in because it there's so much nuance there, depending on the factors that you mentioned.

Okay, right.

So we don't see as long as we don't have a pie graph.

We look forward to the budget and the discussion in two weeks.

Thank you very much.

Great.

Okay.

Oh, member Cassett.

I'm sorry, Member Cassman.

Um, when will the budget books be available to members?

The um budget book will be posted online, hopefully by the end of the day on Friday.

And then if you are one of the ones that wants a hard copy, we are gonna try to get those printed and into your mailboxes for the Tuesday board meeting.

So we'll be reaching out.

Um, the budget manager Mike Wheeler will be reaching out to see which of you would like those hard copies.

Departments will need to produce their own if they wish to have a hard copy of their section.

So just clarifying that we provide that service for the county board members, but departments will create their own budget book if they would like a hard copy.

Okay, thank you.

Okay.

Uh I'll just note for members uh we have one more item and we do have some executive session items today.

Uh 8.38 is committee action for permanent destruction of executive session recordings for the Financial Administrative Committee from October 8th, 2008 through February, 2024, and for the inactive ethics and oversight committee from October 2nd, 2018 to September 22nd, 28th, 2022, in accordance with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, and as recommended by the attached documents.

Um we have the attachments on the agenda, right?

Okay.

Motion on this item by Hewitt, second by Vice Chair Correct.

Good morning, Ruth An.

Good morning, Ruth Ann Hall, assistant county administrator.

You've seen this on the other committee agendas.

You recall that we did review executive session minutes once those are opened, and they have been it's been 18 months by OMA.

We are allowed to do a permanent destruction of the um recordings.

We've worked with the state's attorney's office, and they agree with the recommendation that we're presenting for you.

Okay.

Comments or questions.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

8.38 is approved.

County administrators report.

No report.

Okay, we do have executive session.

Can we have a motion to go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter and to discuss the setting of the sale or lease price for county property and to discuss claims, loss, risk management, information, records, data, advice, or communications from or with respect to any insurer of a public body, as well as to review executive session minutes.

Motion by member hewitt, second by member Clark.

Roll call, please.

Member Clark.

Member Maine.

Aye.

Here.

Yes, sorry.

Uh member Peterson.

Member Bulitzek.

Go ahead.

Motion is approved.

We're adding into executive session.

Session minutes from September 4th, 2025.

Motion to approve by Vice Chair Parek, second by member Volitzik, comments, questions, edits.

All in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed item is approved.

Any member remarks or requests?

Member Maine.

Thanks.

I just sent everybody on the committee and and Chair Hart.

I think I scheduled it to show up tomorrow.

Um, I remember we had a real brief discussion here about sort of the implications of those data centers and energy use, and is that something, you know, water use?

And is that something, you know, water use?

And I just heard a really interesting podcast that talked about AI, chat GPT, and energy and water use and where that was going.

So I just thought it'd be of interest to you.

So that's why it's going to show up in your mailbox at some point.

Yeah.

Any other member remarks?

Great.

Uh, we will be back here for the budget hearings on the 21st.

We're adjourned.

Thank you, everyone.