After several months under the microscope, the DuPage County Board has adopted a $636.6 million budget for fiscal year 2025, though there are lingering questions about one component of this year’s spending plan.
The adopted budget includes a proposed $71 million property tax levy, which will be finalized this spring once new construction figures and other pieces of data come into sharper focus. The county’s tax rate remains flat.
‘High-quality services’ and ‘key investments’ in county budget
Early this fall, County Board Chair Deborah Conroy unveiled the proposed budget, Members of the board’s Finance Committee subsequently reviewed and made several small-scale modifications.
When the budget ultimately was adopted at the board’s Tuesday, Nov. 26 meeting, 22 separate resolutions were approved. The collective votes paved the way for the budget’s enactment as the county’s new fiscal year officially began on Sunday, Dec. 1.
The county’s spending plan for the year ahead includes the allocation of $151.9 million toward an assortment of capital projects. Among them: repairs for water and sewer lines, renovations to the DuPage Care Center, and the expansion of animal services.
Immediately after the board’s passage of the budget, Conroy issued a news release, touching on some of the core components of the operating plan for the year ahead, including allocations toward food insecurity, mental health, and substance use programs.
“This budget reflects my commitment to deliver high-quality services while making key investments that directly improve our residents’ quality of life,” Conroy said in the statement.
The new member initiatives program
At the recent County Board meeting, several members continued to wrangle over member initiatives, a new program Conroy introduced in this year’s budget that was part of the adoption. It allocates $300,000 toward each County Board district or $100,000 for each board member toward community-specific programs.
District 1 commissioner Sam Tornatore expressed concerns the existing framework of the member initiatives program could be difficult to execute this coming year.
Tornatore spoke to a proposal he made at a recent Finance Committee meeting, which will be revisited in December when several new commissioners are sworn into office.
“Simply put, my suggestion was to take the $300,000 per district and combine that $1.8 million into a member initiative pot and let County Board members through their various districts come to the County Board with their requests and not necessarily be limited to $300,000 if their request is greater than that,” Tornatore said.
Tornatore later stated, “I think it will be a very difficult process to distribute this money by districts.”
Commissioner Mary Fitzgerald Ozog made one other suggestion about the execution of member initiatives.
“When we discuss this, I’d also like to consider that we would make the funds available throughout the entirety of FY 25,” Ozog said.
Preliminary discussions earlier this fall about earmarking funds through the program suggested appropriations had to be made in the first few months of the new fiscal year.
Facing the unknowns
Conroy, in response to the board members’ concerns and questions about the member initiatives program, conceded there are unknowns on the horizon — particularly against the backdrop of a new presidential administration taking the reins on Jan. 20.
But regardless of high-level changes, Conroy said there are several big-picture concepts interwoven throughout the budget.
“One of the biggest needs that we need to continue to fund is food insecurity and the unhoused,” Conroy said. “The unhoused, I think, is becoming a bigger issue, and I think there’s ways we can start to look at that.”
Questions about recipients of member initiatives funds continued to bubble to the surface at the meeting. Conroy did draw a sharp line around where the funds should not be allocated.
“I certainly don’t think it’s appropriate for us to be giving money to other governmental agencies that are levying taxes,” Conroy said.
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