County Board - Special Meeting

All right, everyone. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Will County Board special meeting for December 4th, 2025 2025. We will call this meeting to order. Uh madam, I'm sorry. Let's please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Madame clerk, can you please call the role? Richmond, Williams, Dean, Schlottman, Ogala, Pretzel, Butler, Newquist, Balich,

I've ever heard that. How do you say it? Say your name. My name is Balage. Like college would it be? But do you think I care? Not really care. [laughter] Oxley, Brooks, Bulock, Logan, Freeman, Revvice, Mitchell, Ortiz, Burkowitz,

Hickey, Costa, Traineer, Van done. All right, we have 20 with 20 members being present, two absent, we have a quorum. I need a motion to place on file the certificate of publication. Motion by Freeman, seconded by Mitchell. Madame clerk, please call the role. Richmond Williams pretzel Butler. Yes. Newquest, Balich, Oxley, Brooks,

Bulock, Logan, Freeman, Revvice, Mitchell, Ortiz, Burkowitz, Vicki, Costa, Trineer, Vany the affirmative. The motion carries. At this time, I invite anyone from the public to comment for today's agenda items. Is there anyone here from the public for today's agenda item, please? Thank you. Come forward and state your name. You are on sir.

Hi, how are you? My name is Raj Palai. U first of all, madame executive, thank you very much for the opportunity to discuss the 0% levy with you. I appreciate that. Unfortunately, I couldn't do it because I'm behind a team uh uh with the Republican caucus and uh it just wasn't the right time. Um the timing is not um right when you guys are in the middle of a of a negotiation. So, uh again, my name is Raj Pai. I'm here as a resident um who wants to see the Will County government operate the way that it's supposed to through process, not politics. Uh the executive's draft budget this year was built on a 2% levy increase. Uh you know that's the responsibility of the executive and uh that budget was put in in August. So that was uh her proposal but the board reflecting what the families in Will County are facing um voted in October to set the levy direction at 0%. And this wasn't at the last minute. It was in October. Okay. So then again in November, the board reaffirmed that position, this time passing the final 0% levy ordinance, and that was 11 Republicans, one Democrat. And and thank you to all those people. Um two votes, same outcome, clear direction, very clear. But despite both votes, the most important piece never really arrived. A revised 0% budget to match the levy. Even though uh even after the board made its decision twice, no 0% budget was provided to the committees, the board or the public to review. So instead of examining options, prioritizing spending and identifying what could be adjusted, the board was left with no functional document aligned with the levy it it adopted, frankly. So, and when that gap became obvious, the public heard talk of a potential county shutdown, something that's really more political than

procedural, because we we know that that's not that's not possible. Uh, and certainly not helpful, by the way. And government isn't designed to operate through fear or threats. It's designed to operate through cooperation. The board sets the levy. That's what the taxpayers can afford. And the executive prepares a budget that fits it. And there's a practical reason the executive has that responsibility. Only her departments know what's essential and what's non-essential. The board doesn't know that necessarily. Only her budget office has the operational knowledge to propose responsible adjustments. The board can't make those decisions without receiving her proper proposal. Now, instead of reviewing a proper 0% budget, we're talking about using reserves. Now, that might be the only option now, but it's it's honestly just a functional workaround is what I call it. Resorting to the county reserves would be the board solving a problem in a way that they shouldn't have to have been forced to if the budget was properly addressed during a normal budgeting partnership. And this is a partnership. It's not it's not politics. My request today is simple to the board. Let's restore that partnership and put politics aside. When the board sets the levy, the executive must present the matching budget. That's how government avoids drama and how the public avoids confusion and there's been a lot of confusion and allows frankly it allows our government to maintain the trust that the the people deserve. Uh that's it. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? going once, twice. All right. Thank you. Uh we'll move on to old uh there's no old business, so we will move on to new business. Um I need Joe, do you want to Well, I guess I can just put um Hold on a sec. Okay. Under new business is I need a motion to reconcile the fiscal year 2026 budget levy using 2.8 million from cash reserves. Is there a motion? Motion by Ogala. Is there a second?

Seconded by Oxley. Discussion. Member Ortiz. Thank you. I would like to [clears throat] make a motion to amend the 2.8 to 2,778,649 as that is the exact amount that is missing in the gap of the budget. Again, that was 2,778,649.

There's a motion by Ortiz, seconded by uh Butler. Is there any discussion on that piece of it? What' you say? They are. I mean, we've learned that um your request. Yes. Are you requesting? [clears throat] Yeah. Um, are you requesting it in writing to be? Yes. All right. All right. Uh, well, no. Let's hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

It's about Let me see. Member Ortiz, will you just write it on a sheet of paper and then we will ask um the county board staff to to just simply make count copies of it? 2.8 minus 2778 600. It's a It's only a $21,000 difference. 21,000. Yeah. Well, staff's got to do their job. Thank you, sir. Thank you. [laughter]

Um, while that's taking place, may we presume discussion on this amendment? No, we have to wait. Okay. But I do have discussion though, so just so you know.

I'll stay in a

second. [laughter] So, And for you, I was listening 60. [laughter]

I'm getting ready to think about going. We get all these emails and I get tickets for concerts and things through our time. I think I've been doing it. We got tickets from the Really? When When are you going? I didn't know about that. We went to the bus. If you scroll, if you get those articles in the mail, I do. Sometime they're long and I get delet. But I started going through them and I see a lot of different I signed up for the safe driving course cuz you're supposed to get auto insurance. Yeah. But and then I lose my points to buy the different.

Yeah, I got points. I never discount tickets. So I'll go back. I know they have this. But you got to take on like entertainment or something like that. And then cuz something came up about Neapville has something and too what are you going to um somebody review I don't remember who it is on Saturday. No no no this next spring next year. Yeah next year. You just went to the teddy bear. It was up to I'm going to make it an annual thing with my granddaughter until she says no more grand. I think my son would like it. [laughter]

She was afraid to sit on Sy's lap still. They have a little petite.

No, they didn't do it like that. It was kind of disappointing. It's just a buffet breakfast, you know. I would have preferred the little sandwiches. I think that's just too much for them to do. And I think most of the people running it were volunteers, but they had crafts. She made a little mitten ornament and she played reindeer games. and we had a little breakfast and she got to listen. Now, she was not afraid of Mrs. Claus. Mrs. Claus was stories, reading stories. She was more than happy through three or four stories. The littlest yak, something about a pigeon. But anyway, they were all good because she would not Santa Claus. Santa was handing out the teddy bears. So, I had to go up to Santa Claus and get her teddy bear. And her mother said uh has taught her what she wants for Christmas.

World peace and I do like her and a canoe. Get her a canoe. The canoe. Wow. Wow.

My grandsons one year they asked The ask you asked last year he wanted a potato

a potato. There was no It's okay. Okay, we have county board staff is given those numbers. We're going to So, we're going to continue discussion on the amended numbers presented by member Ortiz. I'm going to let you finish your amendment. So, we have a first we have a motion and a second to amend the numbers. Member Ortiz wanted to speak on that.

Thank you. Okay. So, I just wanted to make a very short comment um about this special meeting, why we're here today. So, this special meeting is happening for one reason. Okay. At the last full board meeting, the county executive's chief of staff stopped the state's attorney's office from advising this board on how to make the proper motion to use cash reserves to close that budget. Kevin, I just Okay, I'm going to stop you because this is it has it is about your motion to change. If you'd like to talk about why you would like to change it down to that number that is appropriate. Yes, this is No, it's not. Yes, it is. No, it's not. I'm going to continue on.

No, you're not going to. You're not going to silence me. I'm not trying to You can I know you don't want me to put the P. No, no, no, no. I'd be more than happy to finish this conversation, but you need to you know all the rules. I'm going to turn your mic off. Attorney Well, you can office was prepared to give a single you're so you're going to hear more stories. Destiny, you're inappropriate. Destiny, member Ortiz, you're inappropriate. You are being inappropriate.

You're being member Ortiz, you're being inappropriate on the county board. [clears throat] If you There is no pressure on this board. You're gonna have to hear the honesty of this conversation. All right. Thank you very much for your inappropriate combats. You are out of order. Member Ortiz, you're out of order. Member Ortiz, you're out of order. Could be. Member Ortiz. Hearing the county board holds the hearings. The county board holds the hearings. that goes in the finance committee.

So today an appropriation subcommittee so department member tease you continue to be out of order. We'd like to have this county board to have some decorum and I'm sorry that you are out of order. You have county board opportunities at the end of the meeting that you are able to talk. Period. Let's fix them. Let's close the gap today. Let's undo the member Ortiz. Once again, you continue to be out of order. You are disruptive to this county board meeting. You have time to talk at the end of the meeting to give your personal opinion on matters.

Member Van Dy to the to the amendment.

Yes. Um thank you, Madame Executive. Uh my first question is the accuracy of the the amendment. Um I do not know if these this number is actually um correct. [snorts] Um I did actually speak to the finance department and I was given a different number to be accurate and the numbers seem to be about $4,000 difference, but I'm willing to accept the amendment as written. Uh according to the finance department, they can make the $4,000 difference gap. uh work if it does pass. So I I am concerned about the accuracy and where this information had come from. Thank you.

Thank you. Member Triner on the amended number please. I'm done. Thank you. Member Nquist on the amended number. No, my comments on the amend on Gotcha. Member Burkwitz on the amended number. I have two comments. Uh my first comment I should be free to express because this is during the proceeding of an open correct please do not interrupt me. We are talking about the amended the amended number. Do you have comments on the amended number? I have two comments. We're going to go back to the other we're going to amend is so the amended number.

I have two comments. This is a public meeting, an open meeting, and I've tried to tell her that. I'm ve I'm very disappointed in the lack of transparency today to silence and turn off the Burkowitz. Are you going to talk about the amendment? There's space on this agenda where you can give your No, I am tired of this. I am tired of these theatrics on the county. Jennifer, please show me the statute or the policy that allows you

talking about a city county. We are making discussion on the amendment. If you you have time in this meeting to give your opinion at the end, there is time for this. I'm not talking to you. There's an appropriate time. You guys make you make rules and I'm just asking you to follow your rules, please. Did you have discussion on the amendment? You guys, we can all scream at each other and do this. trying to file where in the rule does it allow the county executive to mute because it's not a board member. If you're not going to follow your rules, I can do it.

Do you have an amendment on this? I'm going to do the same to you. I'm going to do the same to you if you have are you going to talk about the amendment? Do you have conversation on the amendment? Since we can't have open conversation, not at this time. We're talking about the Not at this time. According to you have an ability to talk to my second point. If you want to talk about the number not expect to be muted my second comment, you're not going to follow the rules. You will is that for some reason and I am following the rules. Um then talk about the amendment

figures that I've received from um Mr. Broofphy is com they're different from what we were provided in our county board meeting. There is confusion within within these departments in the county board um in the in the county. Mr. Brophy doesn't do the agenda. You know, he's not the finance person. He's the treasurer. So he would not what my understand be clarify to folks what you're what are you saying what number

information that was provided to me after the meeting is different than the information that we were provided in the open um county board meeting. So we've got a communication problem here. We've got department heads that are coming forward and giving us numbers that they change they change later. So, um I'm going to um this is information that was shared with um our chief of staff and um in the future I think we need to resolve these issues. I would like this put um put forward.

What do you say? What is this? We no one knows what you you're holding in front of your hand. Member Burke and is it the numbers that we're dealing with the amendment that or member Ortiz made? So it is uh an a change in the amount of cash reserves that's being held. Um it has been changed

again I if you're making it if you're trying to change something in regarding this a budget amen the number that member Ortiz says I I I don't know what you are you're looking at and if you're trying to make another amendment to that that's what you need to bring forward. I would like to move forward with the amendment on the floor, but in the future, we need to make sure that our department heads come forward with the information we need at that time and that they're prepared and that they have an accurate figures. Thank you. Thank you, member Butler on amendment.

Thank you. So, I just want to say that I really appreciate an accurate accounting. Um, I am concerned about the $4,000. I don't think that, you know, like if there is a $4,000 um Oh, you say 400,000. Yes, sir. No, he said 4,000.

4,000. I I I would have no problem with, you know, covering that. I think this is uh, you know, a fantastic uh resolution. I think it completes the budget, which is what everyone wanted. Uh, and and I think it satisfies all. So, um I'm very happy to see this if but if if we can go on with this number and it's not going to affect everything, we should we should just move forward with it. So, I just want to thank everybody for their hard work and um you know making sure that you know you got everything you need so that nothing has to be closed down, no essential services because certainly we would not want to see any of that happen. Thank you.

Member Richmond. So, I had a conversation with our finance chair and with the speaker. Oh, I'm I I I apologize staff, finance staff. I apologize. I misspoke. I didn't mean to um misspeak. Yeah. Okay. and with the speaker and we're everybody is in agreement that we can make this work for the amount that's written on the piece of paper that's in front of everybody. So I think what I'd like to do is uh call the vote. Can't do that. You spoke. Oh I I apologize. Sorry. Sorry.

Sorry. We we tried to keep the I understand. I understand. Member Williams. Well, I just have a point of clarification. Um, we are following Robert's rules of order, aren't we? We are trying to Okay. Because if we're following Robert's rules of order, then the chair actually is in charge of the meeting. And I would like to see that happen here. If we're Our rules say that we follow Robert's rules, please. Can we follow Robert's rules? Thank you. All right. So, we have a Oh, last minute. Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me member Revis on the amendment. On the amendment. Sorry. I guess I'm I guess since I have we're following Robert's rules, I have to direct my questions to the chair. So to the chair,

is this something that you as the executive of the county would be comfortable with us using these cash reserves to fill this deficit? I don't know if my opinion on this really matters at this minute. You guys are the county board. You guys are responsible for the budget and the levy as was stated. I just provide a draft and so I am going to follow the will of the county board. Thank you.

Thank you. So, we have a motion and a second to amend to the number I don't have it in front of me that is presented before you. Um there is no other discussion. Madame clerk by state statutes because we are changing the budget. We need a um before December after December 1st we need 15 members in an I Richmond Ogala pretzel yes butler yes newquistic yes Brooks yes

Bulock Logan Freeman Revis Mitchell, Ortiz, Burkowitz, Hickey, Costa, Trineer, Vandine. Yes. 20 in the affirmative. The motion carries. There is another other new uh new businesses. Another new business. Any public com I I'll get you under comments of county board. Oh, I'm sorry. No, we need one more. Yep, you're right. You're right. We need the um Go ahead, Member Balage. Are you going to make the I can't make a motion because it's not on the agenda. So, I'm going to make a suggestion.

Well, no, we need We're not done with this yet. We got We We got Oh, hold on. We don't get to do it that way. Do you I'll wait till after. All right. So, we need a motion to approve as amended. Is there a motion? Butler. Motion Butler. Second by Logan. Any discussion on the overall? Now we have board more discussion. County board member Nquist, thank you. On the amended budget,

I just want to say that I don't believe it's proper practice. I don't believe it's a good idea to use reserves to fill operational holes. However, we do need a balanced budget and I believe this is the only way forward for us at this point. So I will be reluctantly supporting this. Thank you. Member Butler then Ogala.

So I'm so appreciative that we had a surplus in the cash reserves that allowed us to use the money that the taxpayers have entrusted to us and not have to ask them for more when we already had the funds to do so. So I think this is a great solution. I appreciate all the hard work to get the numbers accurate so we didn't take one penny more than we had to. Right? because it's not like we're not taxing. We're still taxing. We're just not increasing it. And I know that might make people upset because then next year we can't build on that increase and ask for more. So, I 100% support it and it is probably one of the most responsible actions that this body could take.

Member Ogal.

Thank you. So, in the past, we've made some [clears throat] mo budget changes to move money out of cash reserves to pay for salary increases. So, it's I mean I I hope that the county executive who administers this will take these funds that we've allocated and spend them on our capital projects. That way, that leaves new construction and all the rest of dollars available to cover salaries and and services that are needed where the capital projects a one time onetime expense. So, that that makes a lot of sense. And I'm sure the county executive will make a good decision on that because she's got a lot of work to do and she understand what needs to get done. The county board has we have here at the county we have an excess of funds in our cash reserves account. So it makes sense that we would go ahead and use those cash reserves to fund what we need to fund rather than going to the taxpayers for more money. That is the smartest thing to do. It makes the most sense and it saves the taxpayers dollars. So, I think it's very good that we uh we all can be proud by by doing that and saving and making a statement that all taxing bodies need to take a close look at their levies and decide what they can actually do. Just because you can tax more doesn't mean you should. Thank you. Member Brooks,

Madame Executive, I turn my mic on to concur with both sides. I think we need to do what it does what it takes to make us hold keep our government services running. However, I do believe that when my wife give me my monthly allowance and I overspend, I can't keep going to my savings account. And I do not agree that this should be a way of paying our bills. However, I do understand the logic of it. I never want to argue with smartness. But my question to you, Madam Chair, is how does this affect our bond rating where we stand right now? Um, we're gonna Can we have uh um R Sean, would you like to come up here? Or or actually Karen's here. Go ahead.

I didn't see Karen behind the podium.

That's good to know. That's what I'm looking for. Good morning. Um, can you ask your question one more time, Karen? My question is going to the um our reserves, how does that affect our bond rating by taking 2.7 whatever the exact figure is.

Um, we typically get bond ratings when we're going out to issue debt. Um, they do look at all use of cash reserves when it's an identified planet one-time use. uh uh purchase of large equipment, uh the the county clerk's selection system, things like that, they're considered good business practice. When they're not planned and you're using it to cover operations, it's not looked at as the best way to operate. Your current revenues should match your current expenses. Um, in this case, we've been lucky enough to have a a little bit of excess in our cash reserve. So, this isn't going to harm us.

Okay? We're not due for a bond rating until they do an update maybe in a year or we go out for uh new debt issuance. Okay? Um, but this is not a practice that you should plan on doing regularly. Thank you, Karen. That's what I need to know. Okay. Member Pretzel.

So, I appreciate the comments from member Butler and member Ogala. Uh, and they took a lot of the words right out of my mouth, but we have a surplus in our reserves. I think it would be irresponsible to go to the taxpayers for more money when we're already holding so much of their money that we don't need to be holding. We're we're supposed to have 25% and we have 33%. That's tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money that we're holding on to. It would be super irresponsible for us to go back for more when we're not using what we've already taken from them. So, I'm definitely going to be supporting this.

Thank you, member Traneer and then Richmond.

Thank you, Madame Executive. Um, I I listened carefully to the public comments this morning and I was kind of disappointed because I respect that doctor. I think he is a very good doctor. I think what he does as a businessman is great in our community, but I think his understanding of how county government works is perhaps a little skewed. And maybe he was here to make more of a political statement, but um the uh I'm talking about the the use of the surplus funds and the comment about how our budget is created. Um we we were presented a budget by the county executive. It is our practice, past practice, current practice, uh, and I believe in statute that it is our job to amend that budget. And for the 17 years I've been here, that is what we have always done. We have identified where we want to cut dollars if, in fact, we want to reduce the amount of money going into our budget and reduce the levy. Uh the former speaker of our board chastised me unendingly um over suggesting that we use $300,000 to prop up our public defenders department because they were so underpaid we couldn't get staff uh and yet now we're using $2.8 million.

I think we are talk No, no, we are talking about 2.8 million. Try to explain. Listen, no. I'm talking No, no, no. Let me tell you, we are talking about the overall budget now. Just as I member Ortiz could have waited. Member, we are done. Well, then yeah. So, we're most So, again, there's a time or not. I will wrap up my comments with the fact talking about the budget

that our budget, we've had plenty of time to identify cuts. This is our job. This is the historical way. We have always done it at the county. Always. not always in committee. Uh many times a big surprise on the board floor, no question about that. But the county board's job is to identify where they want to cut things from the county executive's proposed budget. It is a draft budget that is given to us in August. there is no need for us to do this and argue over critical services um you like the health department like safety within the sheriff's department and to be in a place where we don't have enough funds and yet in the forest preserve we didn't we didn't propose a 0% levy that's recreational so I I just really don't understand it when we are turning our backs on our community and putting uh the the future of our budget in jeopardy by voting for a zero levy with a 1.7 75 increase in spending, but I will um vote yes on this because well, we don't really have another choice. Thank you,

member Richmond. So, I uh spent some more time with my best friend, the uh county budget book. And um I did identify six items within that county budget book that kind of uh run in conjunction with what uh uh Karen had mentioned. The items that I identified to come to the $2.8 million is the Will County needs assessment. That's a million dollars. That's going to help us evaluate our needs for facilities and uh everything moving forward. I think that is actually a a a good spend. Cord Annex roof, I'd have to say that anybody that's looking at us from a bond perspective would say you're investing within your uh uh infrastructure. Good move. Sunny Hill nursing home roof, another good move. Digitizing land records, another great move because those are documents that deteriorate over time and now we can do have them for future generations. Security cameras as well as the security camera card reader access. That all equals to about 2.8 8 million $2.8 million. So I think that is a good use that I believe that the bond folks would look at that as a a a good place to be spending those dollars. So that's all I have. Thank you.

Member Logan. Um I have one question for Karen. Actually two questions. Member Brooks brought up another one. Um, how much excess do we have to the nearest million? Um, we we currently are at 35% of the corporate fund budget instead of 25. Um, the dollar amount I think it's 90 million. I think roughly 70 would would be the 70 million would be the 25% that which is our practice. So I got to do math in my head. So 90 minus 70 is 20 million at excess. Um can can I can I provide a little bit more information? I got one more question for you.

Okay.

So when it comes to bond rating when they say that we use our surplus um is it the surplus money that we use or is they're talking about that 25% that affects the bond because I'm having a hard time grasping that if we say if we have more money than we need and we use that that that can affect the bond. Is that true? And maybe we need to take a step back. Cash reserves is a one a point in time measurement of the cash on hand for the corporate fund only. If we don't have 25% in the past, we've not been able to pay for our expenditures, payroll, contractual obligations. That's why we have the policy in place. In 2020, we were a we got a $50 million reimbursement through the car's fund. That is the only reason we have excess. We've been using it over the last few years. It's not going to continue because we're not going to have an influx like that again.

So, I I I think people are confused about what a cash reserve is. It's just a measurement of what we similar to your checking account. You know, if your checking account has money in it and your bills are due before your paycheck, that's what you need. We're doing the same thing. There's just a lot of zeros at the end. Well, I wish my bank account had lots of zeros. But in regards to the the bond rating,

they look for it. What bond rating agencies look for is that you're not using um money you have set aside for operations. Your current revenue, the money you have coming in every year should match your expenditures for every year. Okay? So that 25% the 25% is us having enough cash to get through the year until the levy starts coming in. Okay,

we cannot con um we're not building things. We can't control the the influx of um cash here. We can't make more widgets. We have to wait for sales tax collections and property taxes. Those are the things intended to fund county government. um the property tax levy, the first payments are due in May. We don't get money till June. So that's six months of the year where onethird of our revenue is not available to us. That's why we have 25% of the budget available at the end of the year cash flow. It's a cash flow item.

Okay. Um yeah. Uh I don't think I got the questions answered, but I I don't think I'm going to get them answered. So, thank you. Do you want to ask it a different way? Yeah. She's not trying to answer. Would you like to clarify? She's not obvious. Would you like to I'm not sure she's Okay. All right. All right. It's not always

every day. It changes every day. Money comes in, money goes out every day. But at the end of the year, our what our policy says is we want to have at a minimum 25% of the next year's corporate fund budget sitting here available so we can continue to pay salaries, contractual obligations, etc. until we start getting levy distributions and we have that right now.

Hey, no, hit please hit your button. So we So I I there's a lot of buttons. If there's questions or follow-ups for Karen while she is up here, just kind of raise your hand because I know that they we have a couple. Okay, so we have three. So, we're going to Okay, these are all for Karen. So, we'll start with I know uh member Hickeyy's button has been on forgo. Hickey, Ogala, Revis, and Butler. Thank you, Madam Executive. Um I just want to double check the 25% is our practice. It is not a statute. Is that correct?

It is not state statute. It it is something the board elected to do back in 2008 because they did not want to have to borrow money to get through till the tax levy distribution. Okay. And if the reserves dip below 22% my understanding is that triggers an emergency board. Yes. So we have to take action. So, what's the difference between 25 and 22 in in dollars? Yeah, I'm sorry. I know because the numbers keep changing. Exactly. I'm not quite sure. But I mean, are we talking tens of millions? Millions, do you think?

Uh, it would be millions. And we're not we're not near we're we're well over 25%. We're I think when Michan and I looked at yesterday, we were about 34% of the budget. So we have more than we need. Um so planned use of that is fine, but you shouldn't be using it for day-to-day operations. That that means you haven't matched your revenue and expenses, right? Okay. So continuing this practice would be detrimental to our finances if we continue to use the reserves practice. Okay, I'll say that. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you, Rogal.

Thank you, Karen. I've been on the board a little while and I recall that there were times that you came before us and told us that um you know, our cash reserves were, I don't know, whatever percent they were, but over 25%. And that you said that at that time, just like if it dips to 22%, we're supposed to take action. If it goes above 25%, we're also supposed to take action. We can. Yes.

Right. We can take action. So that was the action made today to and the recommendation as the Republican leader stated is to spend those dollars on capital projects. They're onetime one-time funding. It's not like their salaries or anything like that. In the past cap cash reserves was used to fund the state's attorney salary. That was ridiculous to fund capital projects. It makes sense. And we could have used we could have funded all the capital projects that are proposed in the budget which is about four point a little over $4.7 million. We could have taken all those and funded them from cash reserves and we would still have an excess in our cash reserves since we're at 35%.

Right. That I mean and I think that part of the issue here is the timing of it. Uh unfortunately the timing was not if they had all all had been done in the budget planning process that it would have been it would have a different look.

It w it would have a different look and I can agree with that. Unfortunately the day of the county board meeting there was some confusion in the room some interference in the room and that that caused us to be in this situation. So I think to to take the situation that we have to make it better it makes sense. We were able to, like I said before, we were able to go ahead and do a zero levy with new construction. So, we are bringing in new dollars anyway. And um we're funding the rest of the stuff hopefully. Capital projects, not day-to-day operations. Makes the most sense. It's my recommendation um to the county executive having been the prior county board chairman. That makes sense to do that. And in the past for many many years, it's really interesting that at some point in time uh we had been doing things on the county board floor very the same way for years and years and then suddenly we started hearing that we were doing things wrong. This is has nothing to do with you, but in the past when the um one party or the other wanted to change the budget, that was done at the county board meeting in November and it was done and the county executive and her staff found the cuts. That's how it always was. It suddenly is different. We're getting different information. I don't know why the information is different than it's been in the years that I've been here. I've been here, this is my 13th year, so I don't understand why there's that change. So maybe that's part of the issue here is that and then as far as making cuts, the county board members are not given any background information at all about the 500page proposed draft budget. We don't have the information. We don't sit in on those meetings. Our staff sits on those meetings. I don't even know if the county executive sits in on those meetings or not. I'm not sure. So we don't have the behindthe-scenes information to say, you know what, this makes sense. we could cut this. This doesn't make sense. We can't cut that.

Like I said, easy enough. The cuts could have been made completely by taking the dollars um and cutting capital projects or spending it on capital projects. So, I know we like to paint a picture one way or the other, but I think that we should, you know, let's go ahead. Everyone agrees on making this change to the budget. So, I think we should just move ahead on it. Me, you have a few more people of question. member Revvice. So again, the cash reserve is like our checking account. So the money that we get in uh revenue in the form of sales tax, property tax payments, they don't come in in a consistent time. Correct.

So as the year goes on, we need to m maintain and keep an eye on our cash reserve so it doesn't dip below that 25% number. Although sometimes it might ever so slightly dip. But the way uh outlining the money that we got the $50 million from the car's act, it's left us with a very comfortable spot in cash reserves. I only remember this because this is what you told us with the first time we started bringing up cash reserves and the realities behind using it. Now, that being said, one of the things I've been a big advocate for is using cash reserves for one-time payments just like we're talking about. So that list that uh leader Richmond outlined, is that something that's going to be needed to be provided to you or since it's like our general checking account there? No, there's really no distinction that needs to be made.

There isn't really a distinction that needs to be made. Okay. Would it be helpful for the record if we have that list enumerated and concrete? It it should be in your minutes. Okay.

I I would think it's in the minutes. Maybe we just keep an eye on that for the future. Uh that that is gets in the minutes, but I think it's a good move. I wasn't originally in favor of this cuz what I think that the public wants is for us to cut 2.7 million out of the budget. That's what I think that they feel that we're doing when we talk about this. Uh I understand there are the realities that come into governing and we have to kind of compromise with each other. So this 2.8 million using the cash reserves seems to be the appropriate middle ground at this point. But what I think the public really wants is for us to cut the 2.8 million out. But since there's the attitude from the board that this is the appropriate way to move forward, I'm not going to get in the way of that. Thank you.

Member Butler. Questions for Karen or we're going to keep you have Karen here. We have a couple more for Karen while she's up here. Can I do that? I'm not. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Go ahead. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I thought it was on. I saw green go. Sorry. Okay. Was it? So after this resolution is made and that money is taken from the cash reserves, we will still have an abundance of cash reserves, well over 30%. Is that correct? Yes.

Okay. So just so everyone knows, it's not even close. We we have more than enough money, more than the 25% that we pose on ourselves and more than many other counties that only do 17%. So there's nothing scary about this. This is so much extra money. We can easily do this and it's a boon for our all of our citizens, our taxpayers. Thank you. Thank you, member Freeman.

Thank you. So, um, corporate funds, I'm I'm hearing people some saying that it's only going to be used on capital, but the corporate funds, it is more than just capital. Correct. the the corporate fund is the large operating fund of the county. Uh we have about 80 funds. Think of them as little business units. Um special revenue funds are funds that have a revenue source that is restricted. It cannot be used for like day-to-day operations. The corporate fund houses or holds the operations of every elected official, the sheriff, the state's attorney. So, so that's all in the corporate fund. There are some capital expenditures made out of the corporate fund. And the corporate fund sometimes takes cash and moves it to a capital fund to cover that purchase. Either of those things can happen with with what's being proposed

because um if I'm correct, isn't a large percentage of this salaries a large percentage of of the corporate fund? Isn't it salaries? roughly between 75 and 80% is we're so we're a service or organization so we don't have manufacturing expenses we have salaries right so the money is just going to go in the pot more than likely it's going to be to help cover some salaries we won't know it's just in the pot right okay that was my big question because I think that needs to be clarified we don't really know but a large portion of it is for salaries thank you

member Mitchell Okay, I just have a couple questions. I haven't been on the board for 13 years, so here's my first question. In the past, has there been like a reporting of how much money is in um in reserves? Like like is there is there like a regular report that kind of talks about this like uh that's given on some kind of regular basis? Um there are financial reports provided to the finance committee. Um the budget director provides budget to actual reports only for the corporate fund. Um I provide some information about sales tax revenues. So so the the information is provided several times a year.

So the reserves how much is in the reserves is provided several times a year. It's provided several times a year. It only matters it only matters at the end of the year. Okay? Because in the middle of the year you're receiving money and spending money, right? So those fluctuations, I'm not sure what you would do with all of that. But if there's a desire to have cash reserve information more frequently, you need somebody needs to request that.

Okay. So that was my that was my question. May maybe maybe [clears throat] in the future perhaps like a a little just a snapshot because I know these are snapshots in moment, right? Yeah, of course. [laughter] Um maybe in the future there could be like a little snapshot of you know this is where we are right now. This is what our checking account looks like for the finance uh committee that might be useful on or may maybe they could propose I'm just asking the finance committee to propose a request you know a snapshot maybe quarterly of where we are since there's a concern

and and I also see the treasurer back there the treasures report is provided to the board um as a reporting item. Well for some reason nobody knew how much was in reserve so I'm just making sure it's No, I'm No, I'm I No, I get that. I understand like it's a you know, I understand a checking account because mine is very active, especially around this time.

So, I get it. I'm just making the I'm just making the point that nobody seemed to have known around the budget budgeting time how much was in reserves. It came It seemed to me that it came as a shock that we had this much money in reserves. So, I'm like, well, why why are we shocked? And we're shocked because we apparently we didn't know. So maybe I'm just suggesting that we get some kind of regular counting of that. That's all. Okay. At some interval, whatever that is.

We have a lot of comments here and I know we have a committee meeting too. So is there anything else for um uh finance director member Burkwitz and then member Twiner? I Joe, I'm real quick. I'm sorry. I I'm not interrupting. I do have an 11:00 meeting that I'm just going to have to step out, Joe, and tell them that I'm going to be late. So, I I'm going to have to have you come up. But, member Burkwitz,

thank you. Uh, so, regarding the um cash reserves, this balance, is this held is this is is this balance invested in a highinterest account? What type of account is? This is not an an account. This is a tally of every checking, savings, investment account for the corporate fund. It's just a sum for the cash reserves.

The the cash reserves is a measurement at one point in time at the end of this fiscal year. We want to show in our checking investments that we have 25% of the upcoming year budget. the next day the amount will be different and the day after that it will be different. It is not set aside in a special savings account.

Okay. So my question is regarding interest um I inquired uh regarding the interest and uh the answer was the 2025 budget included and this came from um Tim Brophy the treasurer. The 2025 budget included an estimated interest amount of $4,921,21. Um he goes on to say that as of September 30th, 2025, we have exceeded that estimate by $545,5821. So the interest alone um and and then the incoming interest from October and November which apparently he doesn't have yet will contribute to that number. So my point is that the interest alone on this money where where is that reflected? Why? Go ahead.

Okay. um when the budget is created all the revenue sources support all the expenditures. So if there was interest budgeted at four or five million that's to cover the expenses that were budgeted. If we exceeded that then that should be money that we have still on hand. The treasurer determines when to invest or leave in a savings or or money market or whatever kind of accounts they want to make the best use of our money. But if it's budgeted, it's budgeted to cover operating expenses. It's not sitting somewhere waiting for someone to make a decision about it.

I've looked at the report that's attached to I I don't know which me meeting it was back in finance. There's a long list of banks, but there's no detail. There's no information regarding the interest. There's no information regarding what the dollars are in that. And I do know uh back in 2019 or so, we would get the board would get a detailed financial presentation from the treasury. And in addition to that, we would also have um bond presentations by some of the the companies that we had our bonds with that we were able to attend. I would like to see that process re-implemented because that gives us the information that we need. That information is not available to us. So, um, it I'm going to suggest and and I'm going to suggest this to our secretary that our finance committee start putting this on the agenda and uh even having a committee of the whole for the board as as a whole to understand our bonds, who who holds these bonds just like we used to get um many years ago. and also to get that detailed information. Thank you.

Okay. Um, we've had bond presentations four times this year. I did one in the spring and we have had our financial advisors here three times since then because we just did a bond transaction. Every time they show up, they talk about what our current debt is. The the debt payment schedules are included in your budget. They're included in our financial statements. I'm I'm not quite sure what more we can provide there. Um, as for the treasur, I do believe he provides a monthly report. If you'd like him to present at a committee meeting, please request his presence.

That was one. That was one of them. They've been here several times. What? I I'm I'm going to do it a little different. I'm just going to go in order. So Karen, if you don't mind, just Can I sit down? You may. No, I'm kidding. Uh I want to go to Member Bulock. I like to call the question.

There's a motion on the table to call the question. Can uh and we do have a second. Is there any discussion on calling the question? We need 13 votes. Actually, I do have a statement um to make on this, but I guess I will honor that request and I will make it under commissioners or county board uh comments. So, let's have a roll on calling the question. Roll call, please. Richmond Williams, yes. Butler, yes. Newquest Brooks. Yes. Bulock. Yes.

Logan. Freeman. Revvice. Mitchell. Ortiz. Burkowitz. Hickeyi. Costa. Trineer. Yes. Van.

Yes. 20. Affirmative. The uh motion carries. Um now we go to the vote. Resolution 23-3710. Resolution to reconcile the FY 2026 budget levy using TW using using using 2,778,649 from cash reserves. We do have a motion and a second. Um I guess roll call, please. Richmond, Williams, Ogala, Pretzel, yes.

Butler, Newquist, Hxley, Brooks, yes, Bulock, Logan, Freeman, Revvis, Mitchell, Ortiz, Burkowitz, Hickey, Costa, Traineer, Vanine, yes.

20 affirmative. The motion carries. Moving on to other new business uh new business Mr. Bich that we uh straighten this budget stuff out but uh going forward I think that uh I would like uh Mr. Richmond to talk to you Mr. Speaker. Are you listening? I wait a second. I'll wait till he sits down. Oh, okay. Well, then I have to wait till you sit down. You're standing up now. All right. I'm sorry. It's like I was prepared for this meeting. We scheduled a day of meeting. So,

I just, you know, I'm sit back and I see what's going on and u the way this whole thing played out. Doesn't seem like it was the correct way to have it played out, but it, you know, it is and it's settled and that's good, right? But moving forward, we need to have a resolution. So, Mr. Richmond needs to be working with the speaker to come up with a resolution that in the future if there's a budget a levy that goes below what was uh presented in August or whatever month it gets presented at the last minute that the cuts to the budget belong to the staff not the county board. So, we really need to do that because if we don't do a resolution and then put it in writing all the way, this is going to happen maybe not next year or the year after, but it's going to happen again. And then we're going to go through the same stuff. So, I'm asking that we create a resolution to make it in stone that from now on if the budget doesn't match the levy, the staff will find the cuts because the county board is incapable of finding the cuts because we would never agree. For instance, somebody would say, "Let's cut all the money out of the health department." Someone else will say, "No, we need that. Can't cut any of it." Someone else will say we need to cut the money from the sheriff. Then someone will say no, we have to have the money go to the sheriff. So we don't know where the cuts go. And like Mrs. Ogala pointed out during our last conversation that we had at the last meeting. Uh if a say they're ordering paper and last year

they ordered $5,000 worth of paper and then this year they ordered $12,000 worth of paper, right? So we're not capable of knowing why. We don't have that data or that information. So it only makes sense that going forward we have a resolution that passes our board that all cuts in the future. That way we don't have to argue with you Kevin because I think you were totally wrong just like Destiny was saying. But that's my opinion. And in order to make this so it works, we just put a resolution together and say from now on all cusps will be found not even from the county executive, the staff because I don't think she has the time to sit there and look through every single line I meet her. So, you know, that's what I'm asking. I'm asking Jim to work with Joe to put something together and bring it to the executive committee perhaps. So, thank you and God bless everybody in the room. It's Christmas time.

All right. So, moving on. That's We're going to have time for comments. That's new. Any other seeing no new business? We're going to move on to public comments relevant to matters under the jurisdiction of the C County. Is there anyone here to speak on any matter? Please state your name. My name is Amy Sanchez. I'm here on behalf of Juliet Unity Movement to read a public statement and to make a couple of comments. So on behalf of the board of directors from Juliet Unity Movement, we denounce Will County Board's vote um amendment on the November 20th meeting. Juliet Unity Movement is calling for public attention to the Will County Board meeting from November 20th vote. amending its budget to redirect cannabis dollars away from communities disproportionately impacted by the past drug um past drug policies contrary to the intended purposes of Illinois's R3 restore reinvest and renew framework. Although the county share of cannabis tax revenue is not legally restricted, Joliet Unity movement leaders emphasize that these funds were created to repair harm in neighborhoods historically affected by mass incarceration, inequitable drug policies, and generational disinvestment. The key concerns our board identified were board members dismissing the spirit of R3 making reference that these cannabis dollars do not have to be used at the county level. We can use it as we wish. Funds were rerouted to depart department equipment and internal expenses items that already um departments that already have an operating budget and that the board majority voted to end discussion requested an end of discussion of the allocation. um [clears throat] to create a transparent um I'm sorry,

transparent funding categories and an open no process that was rejected by this board. I'm sorry, was I interrupted? Thank you. These actions limit accountability. They exclude public input, especially from the communities R3 funds were intended to support. And we also take exception to the fact that this vote exploits neighborhoods that have carried the weight of harmful drug policies and systematic inequities. And our board president said redirecting these funds and shutting down debate is unacceptable. We call for an immediate action for the county board to reconsider the amendment and prioritize disproportionately impacted communities and establish a transparent, competitive, no folk process for all cannabis related allocations. I have sat in public meetings for 30 years. My first public meeting was in 1989. I prefer to go to Juliet City Council meetings. I do not like the partisan Democrat and Republican situation that happens here because both sides were wrong on November 20th for various reasons. Our board had several discussions after we watched with our own eyes the meeting. We were very disappointed to see our own district 6 um board members not speak openly and publicly. We saw their vote, but we wish they would have used their voice to comment and make a statement about why this was wrong. After only two comments by board members, the motion to call to question was made and it failed to stop discussion. So you didn't even want to be questioned about the allocation of these dollars. You just had your predetermined agenda going to push the vote through. And at one point, I believe it was leader Rich Speaker Richmond, but I could be wrong. I'm sorry. I'm probably member Richmond or it could have been somebody else that said the comment, "We already have the votes. Let's make a deal." that

something to that effect because we watch the meeting. So, I'd appreciate not being interrupted during public comment as a member of the public. In any event, the spirit of the R3 dollars is to be used back in the communities most impacted. We also shared the map of the R3 zones and parts of Will County that was disproportionately impacted during the war on drugs back then is now growing. And our organization is all volunteer-led. We don't get public funds. I'm going to need you to wrap up.

Absolutely. We don't get public funds. We are here as volunteers. So, we ask you to reconsider the spirit in which you're voting and your calling allocations. Remember your why for why you ran for public office. And please check your arrogance a little bit. I've said the same thing to the Goliet City Council meetings. Please read your packets in advance. We are here as volunteers sitting in the public. and we would appreciate more educated and informed knowledge about what you're voting on. Thank you. All right, we're going to move on to comment by public uh by county board. Is there anyone else? I'm sorry. Anyone else from the public? Once, twice. All right, we'll move it on to comments by county board members. Please try to be concise and leave and get your minutes to three minutes. We have several members who would like to speak. going to start off with member Bulock. Oh, no. Gina. Okay. Sorry. Uh, member Butler. Yeah. I'd just like to say uh reflecting on this um one item agenda. Um, we we when we talk and we ask questions or we make statements, we should really work hard to to try to stay germanine to the topic. It makes things run so much more smoothly. There there are times that you can say it like now all the things that needed to be said. it it wasn't anyone doesn't need to get but at the same time you know we also need to allow people to you know have a little bit of flexibility in in their comments towards a topic so we we could tone it down on both sides and I think that we could have a much more productive meeting. Thank you.

Thank you member Trineer.

Thank you um executive. Um, I just wanted to thank uh, Leader Richmond for his comments um, and his diligence and research on the uses for the 2 almost $8 million that those dollars um, would be spent on capital projects. And I would say the same thing happened um I think it was last budget where we voted to spend just $300,000 of the reserves that that money even though we took it out of reserves it didn't go directly to the public defender salaries it went into the pot and I know every year we have um capital expenditures so we needed that $300,000 to properly comp compensate our public defenders which are so sorely needed in our community and still are even with that additional funding. Um so I really like the fact that uh leader Richmond pointed that out that just because we transfer money doesn't mean it goes to a specific line item. It goes in a pot and if we have capital needs then that's where those dollars will be spent. Thank you.

Thank you member Oxley. Thank you. I think we're all missing something here. There's a procedure manual for how the budget is done. Somebody a lot of people should take time to read it and follow it. M Ortiz,

thank you. I just want to say that I am not sorry for having to use my Puerto Rican voice on y'all because as we have seen, certain members are allowed to say anything they want, not germaine to the item at hand, but other members are silenced. So, I'm gonna repeat myself once again so that everybody can hear what I had to say because I feel like it's very important. So, again, this special meeting is happening for one reason. At the last full board meeting, the county executives chief of staff stopped the state's attorney's office from advising this board on how to make a proper motion to use the reserves. That is called that is caught on live stream. If you want to go back on the YouTube video that we posted, it is at 4 hours 20 minutes 20 seconds. Look at it yourself. Kevin from the state's attorney's office was prepared to give us that legal advice, but Mike Mahoney told him not to. That advice never reached us. That is improper. Not only is that improper, but once they blocked the state's attorney's office from advising us, the executive's office then sent out a memo that manufactured panic. And I believe that was intentional to pressure this board into reversing course and adopting the 1.75 levy. That's not leadership, it's manipulation. And shame on the county executive's office for doing that right before the holidays. This shortfall is tiny, it's temporary, and it's easily covered with the reserves. But the real problem is the process. We receive a 500page budget in August with no departmental hearings, no appropriations process, no explanation of changes and no opportunity for the public to understand it. And previous board members and board members who are sitting here today have asked to sit in on those meetings and they have been denied. That needs to change. That is not transparency and that is not accountability. So today I am requesting a formal public departmental budget

hearing beginning in April or an appropriation subcommittee so that departments can present their requests in open and this board can conduct real oversight. And let me be clear if we receive another massive unexplained budget next year in August I will not support a levy increase period. Thank you very much. Member Revis.

Uh, thank you, Madam Executive. I just wanted to uh notate that uh at our last meeting, I used the term um uh weaponized confusion, and I think I directed that at you and your staff and the state's attorney staff. So, I just want to say to the state's attorney and the staff and everybody, thank you for the work that you guys do. I apologize for kind of getting above my skis there, Kevin. and I know you do great work and it's very stressful and you're stepping into the new role and you know everybody else Beth I know you do a lot of work as well and you know everything like that. So uh thank you guys and just wanted to throw that out. So member Freeman.

Thank you Madame Executive. This is the fifth budget process that I have experienced as an elected official and the differences I've witnessed this year have been deeply disappointing. There were six separate finance meetings in which the budget levy were on the agendas. That means that there were several opportunities when questions could have been asked and suggested changes could have been made. Although I am not a member of the finance committee, I make it a priority to attend every meeting because the budget is central to the functioning of our county government. After attending every meeting and then reviewing them again on YouTube, I was struck by how much time was actually spent on commentary and rather than questions and constructive direction. Participation or attendance was also concerning. There was one meeting where five committee members were absent and leadership had to fill in to make a quorum. The lack of judgment led to a 0% levy in October, a decision that created a nearly $9 million deficit. And despite that large deficit, no realistic proposals were offered to cut $9 million. Instead, it was suggested repeatedly that it was not the board members role to make the cuts, even though the state's attorney had made it clear that at this stage in the process, it was absolutely our responsibility. Ultimately, last month, the board passed on a bipartisan vote a budget based on a 1.75% levy. And before that vote, it was explicitly stated that the budget relied on that levy. The budget was signed and has been in effect since December 1st. But unfortunately, it was not a balanced budget and it carried a $2.8 million deficit. The only solution was to take money from reserves. An action I believe was unwise. Removing 2.8 million from reserves to pay for operating expenses is a significant and concerning choice. and we can say it's for capital, but we know that it's for operating expenses. I cannot help but recall that in November

2023, this board approved taking the $300,000 from reserves on a partyline vote with a county executive breaking a tie. And at that time, several members strongly objected to using reserves for salaries, making the following statements. I think it's completely irresponsible to take money from salaries out of cash reserve. It's not a revenue stream. That's a safety line that we have for when a we have a downturn in our tax revenue increases. If we're not going to tax revenue for some reason, we have that. We can operate our county. It's completely irresponsible to take money out of cash reserves to fund services. This is ridiculous. End of quote. Next one. When you start to go into cash reserves, why not just take half the money? Where does it end? When you start going down the rabbit hole, you just keep going down that rabbit hole. And it's silly to use cash reserves. End of quote. Next one. I don't believe we should start going into reserves for salaries. End quote. So, I was kind of shocked and here we sit today and those same individuals are now suggesting and willing to withdraw not 300,000 but 2.7 plus million from reserves. So, voting to use reserves today was not something I took lightly. But because 12 board members made decisions that created the situation, I voted to do what was necessary to legally balance the budget. And I am hoping and praying that this decision does not harm us in the long run. And I'm also hoping and praying that we do not have to experience this again. Thank you.

Member Burkowitz.

Thank you, Madame Executive. So my comment uh goes back to um something that I've proposed in the past and um that is regarding the cannabis and opiate committees. Uh my concern is transparency and the input uh for county board members as well as the public. Currently, the way these funds are handled are by is by a committee of two board members, a Republican and a Democrat. They meet or they don't meet. There's no set schedule. There's no recording of the meeting. You can't attend these conversations. And I believe that that needs to be changed. Um, I'm asking Speaker Vanine to in in the future to change the structure of these the dispersement of these two funds. bring these funds to the finance committee where we can have a discussion and the public can be present and any all 22 county board members can be present because these funds at the end of the day when we're working on our budget are critical. They're critical. And by the time this twoperson committee brings their list forward, they've already determined who's going to get this money. So, moving forward, we can see that every dollar counts. We have internal county operations, many departments, the CAC, the sheriff, and

many others that are in the fight because of the drug issues out there, cannabis, opiate. They're in the fight. They're out there protecting our residents and they're out there with programs and working with other resources out there. So, I want to bring this back to the county board as a whole. Bring this back into our structure where it's on an agenda. County board members can comment, public can come and comment, and the future dispersement of these funds are done in a transparent and open manner. It is my challenge to this board to bring this forward in the new year and please let's strive for transparency and then I believe that will also improve this budget process. I'm looking at my fellow county board members not in terms of party. We're all here. We're a team. We all care about our constituents and we all want to do the best. So, let's move forward. Let's make a few changes. And my challenge is let's get this done. Thank you, member Hickey.

Thank you, Madam Executive. Um, I've listened to many iterations of the board can't change the budget because we don't know where the cuts go. Um, if you don't know where the cuts go, then how do you know that we have adequately funded the government to provide the core services that we need to provide? I have been talking to people about the budget. I looked back at my calendar. My first meeting was July 9th. Um, I asked for these meetings. Um, being a board member is kind of a choose your own adventure. you get to decide how much you ask uh of staff and departments to learn about their operations and how much you don't. And I have been at the special finance meetings. Um I would just really really ask that going forward we stave off this drama by everybody coming to this budget process as informed as they possibly can be. This meeting itself could have been accomplished in our regular board meeting for December, but we we're all here. We're trying to get this done. Um I I think this was kind of a self-inflicted wound uh that that we are dealing with, but we're here to deal with it. We're on the other side of it. Let's please strive to do better going forward. Thank you. Member Ogala.

Thank you. Since we're all going there, I'm going to go there. Why not? I think that everyone should take the opportunity to watch the various clips of the full board meeting from last month. We discussed the budget. You will see what's going on in this room, how there's interference from various different avenues. You will look at Kevin, our state's attorney's face, and see that at that meeting, he is very flustered by the entire situation. I can only gather that's because there was information or or he was expected to do certain things. I know there are private conversations going on behind the scenes about a lot of different situations with this. There was a bribe here, a conversation about that. Well, we'll do this for you. That's what's wrong. And and and during the finance committee meetings throughout the entire time, it's really like a presentation from our staff to say, "Okay, we're at this part of the get your budget book. We're at this. We're at this." So really nobody has a full comprehension of the entire presentation of the budget meetings f the budget proposed budget until we've had all those meetings. After that time then then the board members can sit down and look at it and say well here's this or here's that. I know the county executive made a statement on WJ saying well she started at 2% because that's where the leader was comfortable last year. That's is that how we make a budget? You guys want to go there and do this crap? We can do this. We can sit there and sit in our self-righteous seats about this and that. I know what happens. This is a 50/50 board. The budget is presented by the c by the um county executive. It comes to the board floor. It can be 111 vote. We have absolutely no opportunity to make a change unless perhaps somebody on the other side of the aisle sees that perhaps there's a need for a change. Only at that point can we make a change to the budget or get any cuts done. only at that point because it's a 50-50 vote.

And you can go back and look at votes and maybe perhaps uh a member uh Freeman can go ahead and read back from minutes from years ago and you'll see 50/50 vote. Always the county executive makes the tiebreaking vote. Always with the with the Democratic caucus. Never in the history has the tiebreaking vote ever gone to the Republican side. Never. So, you guys want to sit there and say all self-righteous and take this and whatever you want, you can do that. I recommend you go back and you watch that WebEx meeting and you see what's going on. Watch the people coming down on the floor. Watch the moving going around. Watch our states attorney who's brand new at this being very flustered by it by a Republican leader who was also flustered because there was interruptions when he is making motions. He made he made the he wanted to make the motion and I didn't even catch it myself until afterwards when it was brought up. Instead of saying making a motion to amend the budget, he said make a motion to amend the levy. He didn't catch it. He was new at that. At that point, the state's attorney could have said, member Richmond, we are currently at the motion make to if you want to make a motion to amend the budget, this would be the right time. Your statement is to make a motion to amend the levy. Maybe if that was said then perhaps he would have he would have caught that. He didn't catch that. He's new at that role. So we can go ahead throw stones, cast blame, do whatever we want. I think it is irresponsible to continue to tax no matter what our cash reserves how we got that cash reserves. If we're sitting on CAR's dollars, why haven't we taken the opportunity to spend them on some of our capital projects rather than every year to continue to raise our levy? I was in support of new construction. Matter of fact, the county executive asked if I would support that and I said, "Yeah, it took an entire month to get the Republican caucus completely on board for that for that motion. I worked to get that done."

So, go ahead, read minutes, make yourself feel good, make yourself say that, say this and that. But the fact of the matter is it's a 50-50 board. There is no compromise in the room. Matter of fact, when I read the definition of the word compromise, I was also given a definition of another word compromise. And that definition was, you know what, here we're going to give you this and you're going to take it and you're going to like it. But that's not my definition of compromise. Compromise is when we sit down and we agree. Then we want to talk about the Forest Preserve. Let's talk about the Forest Preserve. Forest Preserve, we are 5050 board. We have to compromise there because we don't have a county executive to break the tie. So then the more board members get together, they sit down and they make it. We have these chief of staff make a comment that we raised the levy uh 2.9%. What he didn't mention is that everybody's property tax bill for Forest Preserve is going down this year. It's going down because of years ago we had a referendum where they they bonded a ton of money and those bonds are being paid off. So it's still going down. But and another thing I want to mention, okay, another thing that I'd like to mention, I'll do it quick, um, is the fact that when any chief of staff puts out a press release or a letter to the employees, they should be com they should be doing it not in a way to put things that are false out there. We have $106 million in the budget. So, if we were short by 2.8 million, I don't think anybody's going to die. I think people are going to answer 911 because, oh, wait, that's a special fund. So we there's no money from the corporate fund for that. I don't think we have to kick people out of the nursing home and I don't think our employees have to work from home as I said in a joking way from years ago barefoot and pregnant and work it by candle light. This is ridiculous. This is absolutely ridiculous. So we can

keep doing this. We can make this extreme situation or we can sit back and we can say you know what how about we actually work together and we try and find a compromise on situations and we go with majority but we don't have that we haven't had that for a long time now and it's pretty sad member b I thought you okay oh I'm I'm sorry, Amber Balage. Thank you. It's going to be hard to change all

when I'm listening to all this stuff. You got to go back in time. Back in June, we're not talking about August. In June, I was telling everybody we need to cut 10% out of every line item. I've done that every year for the last two or three years. I don't know how long. Why? Because every time we raise the property tax, every single time you're hurting people that live there, they their house goes up in uh value, but people can't, you know, because they get reassessed. That's how their taxes go up, too. So, we have a zero, but they're going to get reassessed and they're going to raise the price of your house. People can't get loans because they don't qualify for the loan. So, your house isn't worth what you think. Then the people that are stuck there, they're on fixed incomes or they have a job that they don't get a 5% raise every year and step raises and all that stuff. So guess what happens? They can't keep up with the cost of the taxes. So it's immoral on our part to raise taxes all the time. And since we never cut them, this is the best I think we could get was a zero. This really is not a zero because we're using the reserves. So, we're still not at a zero. We're going to zero levy, but we're using the reserves. So, we're just taking money that could have been cut anyway. So, you know, I'm just looking at it in a different point of view because it is Christmas time and I'm thinking this is a real real difficult time for a lot of people, a real lot of people because they got to go out and buy gifts for everybody. And then if you're a senior, you got a bunch of kids, maybe you don't give them a gift no more. You give them a cake, you know, or something that's uh easier for you to afford. But this is all coming down to

the fact that we as a government should care about our residents enough not to be raising their taxes every year. And next year I'll be doing the same thing. I'll be starting in maybe May next year. Maybe I need an extra month to get 10% in off of every line item which I doubt ever passed. But at least we got a zero now. And then we just got to do it what I suggested. have it where the staff finds the cuts instead of using the reserves find the cuts. So if we do a zero budget next year and zero levy, it's all matched because the step the staff will have to find it. But you know, I we got to really think about there's other people than the people that are in this room and the people that work for the county. There's more people out there than there are that are employed by the county. We got to worry about all those people. And when you talk about mental health, everybody seems to have a mental health problem now. Well, you know why they got a mental health problem? Because they're all broke. They're all depressed because they haven't got enough money to do the things they want to do because they're taxed to death. And you know, I don't want to get any further into it, but just think what the state of Illinois is doing to us. The people that get tips, they have to still pay the state. The federal government says, "Don't worry about it. They got to pay the state." That's wrong. They're doing a Now they passed a thing where they're going to give uh scholarships, not scholarships, student loans to illegal immigrants. That means that who's going to pay for those loans because they're not going to pay. We're going to pay the taxpayers. It's all bad stuff. And we are a small body. And I think we can fix it cuz we're all smart people in this room. We can all read and write and actually count money. So, God bless everybody.

Member Nquest. [clears throat]

Thank you. I just want to point out that we've heard a number of members bring up transparency particularly re as as regards to departmental needs in the budget process. And I just want to respectfully point out to everyone that before the budget book came out, we held two special finance meetings where the department heads came in, presented their budget, presented their budget needs and why they were asking for what they were requesting in for the 2026 budget. This is the first time we've done this and they were very poorly attended the meetings and so I really have to say that you guys all had the opportunity to meet with the department heads to ask them questions but if you didn't avail yourself of that opportunity I I really don't know why you would complain about transparency at this point. So thank you. All right, we're meeting going on to leadership. Um, you've already spoken. We we have we have we have another meeting. You've already spoken, member. No, there you've already spoken. You get your time. We have to move on. I'm sorry. What member? We're going to member. We're going to Leader Williams, Leader Richmond, and uh Speaker Van to close. We have a meeting in here after. We have to be respectful of scheduled uh committee meetings as well. Well, I'm um I'm happy that we actually do have a balanced budget, but um I I think that most people would want to save money if they can and if we can provide a savings to our residents, that's what we should do. But I also think that people may have the wrong idea about how much the um our county

portion of the tax bill is. So, as a senior and as a person on a fixed income, I would like to say that my if all I had to pay was my county portion of the tax bill, I would be more than happy to do that. I also have to say that us doing this 0% levy. I don't know if it's going to matter in my budget as far as what we save because as my understanding of it, the savings that the 0% levy provides for the county portion of the tax bill, which is all we have to deal with, I don't know if it's enough that I will even notice that it's a savings. So, I'm glad that we could save, but I think that the public believes that it's going to be more than a $10 saving. and I it's not really going to be more than that from our perspective. So, I wanted to put that out there. I also want to say that there's been a lot of talk about what should or should not be done by this board. Well, we're the board. Then we should or shouldn't do it. I mean, it's up to us. We can change our rules if they need to be changed. We can decide that something that is not working needs to be dealt just done away with or maybe we should do it differently. That's our that is a decision that we make. So coming here and saying what leader van speaker van should be doing or leader Richmond and somehow leader williams always gets left out of that which I'm not understanding that. But anyway um so I don't understand why this board doesn't come to their leadership if they want to change something. We have that authority. We have that power. We should be doing that. That is our responsibility in addition to saving the taxpayers money whenever we can. We also have the responsibility of providing services. So that $10 that I'm saving, if it's going to go to provide the services that are needed in this county

and on a fixed income, it might be me that needs it, then I say put the $10 in there and let it be used for the services for the county. So if we're going to be responsible, let's be responsible because it doesn't sound like there's much responsibility going on here. And I I think one other thing that the public expects us to do, they expect us to stop this clown show that we're doing every month that we do here at this county board meeting. They expect us to do that, too. We are their representatives and they expect us to represent and to do it professionally. This professionalism that we have shown here is non-existent. We can do better. I know we can do better because I know most of these people on the board I've talked to, I've said we have good conversations. So, I know that we have we have the will to do this. It well, I will say that we have the authority to do it. The will needs to come from us. If we're going to be a better board, we need to make ourselves a better board. That is for us to do. If we think the board needs some changes, then make those changes. I also would like to say that as leadership, we mostly lead Richmond and myself are attending most of the meetings. I know I attend all of them. And uh the member Nuke is right as far as the county the uh finance committee meetings. I had to make quum a couple of times for count for the finance committee just because the committee members themselves were not there. So if we're really serious about this budget then we need to be showing up for the meetings. We need to be giving some suggestions. We need to be doing what we were elected to do. I plan to continue to do what I was elected to do. I hope everybody else joins me in that effort. Thank you. Member Richmond.

So Sherry, thank you very much. I'm going to steal one of your lines. We can do better. We can do better, not only as a county, but also as a state. I don't know. Uh reflecting on a Jack Welsh quote, wanting to be number one or number two in any of his business units. And if you're not number one or number two, you got to fix it or get rid of it. In this case here, we can't get rid of it. We got to fix it. So, what what do I mean by fixing it? Let's uh take the spirit of Christmas right now. We've got the naughty list and we've got the nice list. Illinois seems to be always on the naughty list. That's the wrong list. That's not the list you want to be. You want to be on the nice list. And I I say that in reference to property taxes, gas tax, corporate taxes, things like that. We sit at the heartbeat of this country. We've got I've said it before. We've got the railroads. We've got the streets. We've got the riverways. We've got the airports. We're in real estate. It's all about location, location, location. We've got it. And here's the best part is we've got the talented workforce that can actually do all these things. Here's our problem or our challenge. Our challenge is the fact that we're on the naughty list. What we need to do as elected officials, not only us as the county, but other elected officials, other taxing bodies, is figure out ways that we can get off the naughty list or at least drop down a few notches, not be number one. Let's get let's drop ourselves down. Let's make ourselves more appealing to businesses to want to come here because that through that we can have growth. With growth, we can then in turn raise up not only the county, our tax base, but also all the residents too. And that's what I'd like to see for 2026 is us figure out how to move forward. We've taken the first step, but we can do better. So, thank you, Sher, for that.

Member Van Le Speaker Van.

Thank you again, Madam Executive. I was uh I was reluctant like I would uh match uh member Newquist's uh quote to support this measure. Um, but I would just like to provide some background. Uh, last month, a narrow majority of the county board members passed a budget that was an accountant's nightmare. It broke the most basic rule of operating a government or running a business. The budget was not balanced because it had a $2.8 million hole in it. The budget was then passed allow for spending based on a barebones 1.75% increase in the tax levy. The $2.8 $.8 million shortfall was created when the tax levy levy was reck recklessly slashed by the county board floor to 0% without considering spending cuts necessary to balance the budget. The narrow majority that approved the budget did half the job and then walked away. How does this qualify as a responsible government? I ask. And who runs a business like that? I asked many times to complete the task. Show us where the responsible cuts could be made in a budget that everyone acknowledged was extremely tight. Fulfill the county board's basic duty to balance the budget. I pre presented a balanced compromise plan to the finance committee a week before the final vote. That compromise was rejected and my request to balance the 0% budget proposal was also refused. And so today, we were here to clean up a fiscal mess by raiding our cash reserves, by depleting our rainy day fund that gets us through the first six months of the year. It has been pointed out that we have dipped into the reserves before, and that's true. But that's when we had an identifiable immediate needs for or expenses. I believe the county board should not be looting its cash reserves as a matter of practice to fill funding holes created

by lazy and reckless financial planning. It's bad accounting. It's bad government. And it's also bad business. But we're here today because we had little choice. As I noted, I reluctantly support this measure because it's our only option to balance our budget so we can provide the services our residents rely on to pay our dedicated county employees and to meet our financial obligations. I hope we can put this chaos chaotic process behind us. And next year, let's do a little bit better job at working together throughout the budget planning process. Let's have constructive constructive conversations so we won't start the fiscal year with a budget that is not balanced. Thank you.

Thank you. There's no need for executive session. Our next regular scheduled board meeting is December 18th, 2025. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? Motion by Trir, second by Mitchell. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. We