Kane judiciary over budget, too

GENEVA -- The heads of two Kane County public safety and court offices, expected to go over budget before the end of the year, now likely will have to go hat in hand to the county board for more money.

Both Kane County Chief Judge Keith Brown and Sheriff Pat Perez have received written notices from the county auditor that they likely will run out of funds and were warned that any bills submitted over budget would not be paid.

"We're going to go into the (county board judicial and public safety) committee to ask them to pay our bills," Brown said.

Brown received his budget overage notice Thursday morning.

County Board member Mike Kenyon, chairman of the judicial and public safety committee, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The judiciary budget, which covers staff positions, jury expenses and some other court services, is down to about $13,000 remaining for the year. About $47,000 will be needed to make payroll for next week.

Brown said he is optimistic that the situation will be worked out with the county board. "We've done everything we can reasonably do to meet this budget," he said.

Perez received a similar notice last week that his budget likely would run out sometime in November.

Brown said his was the only department in the county where all employees had five days of holiday pay cut. Yet criminal filings increased 17 percent this year, he said.

Many of the overages this year came from contractual obligations, such as appointing lawyers to represent people and arranging for psychological evaluations in court cases, Brown said.

In past years when the judiciary went over budget, the county board was asked for more funds, Brown said.

"We are very sensitive about the county's problems and willing to work with them as much as we can," Brown said.