"McHenry County government is dedicated to providing the highest quality services for the health, safety, and welfare of the County’s residents and communities. We foster representative and transparent government to ensure social, economic and environmental justice."
Fulfilling this statement has not been an easy task for the last several years as financial resources continue to be reduced. Providing county governmental services has required careful planning by all involved. A balanced budget has been possible for the budget year of 2010 and again for the budget in process for the 2011 fiscal year.
According to remarks made to the County Board membership by County Administrator Peter Austin and Associate County Administrator/Finance Ralph Sarbaugh, all department heads have cooperated to provide a balanced budget for the coming year.
Also as noted at Tuesday nights County Board meeting, some help has been received in the receipt of funds from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for rental of jail space for the housing of illegal immigrants. That is a project that has been in place since the renovation of a vacant third floor of the "new" McHenry County jail facility constructed in 1991 including a roughed-in third floor. The total cost for the building was $14.5 million with the third floor portion accounting for about $3 million. Rental of space to the ICE began following a 2005-06 expansion and completion of the third floor to house the ICE detainees.
The current economy has caused officials to cut back on some of the expenditures they had planned for the coming year such as in the integrated justice system for the Circuit Court Clerk and scaling back on the five-year highway program as there is a shortage of about $800,000.
The final proposed budget is expected to be presented to the Finance and Audit Committee for its September 28 meeting, before it is prepared for presentation to the County Board for final approval in October.
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