County Budgets – A Contract With The People Being Ignored

Illinois (ECWd) –

The Illinois Counties Code requires the adoption of a budget for the following year.  The adopted budget is also required to be made readily available to the public for at least 15 days prior to the final action of approving the adopted budget. (Counties Code on Budgets)

Once approved, it is the contract with the people.  A contract that the legislature determined to be serious enough that they imposed serious penalties for violating the act.

55 ILCS 5/6-1008) (from Ch. 34, par. 6-1008)
    Sec. 6-1008. Violations. Any person who violates, or who neglects or fails to comply with, the terms of this Division commits a Class B misdemeanor. In cases of violation of this Division by action of the county board, each member of the board participating in such action shall be subject to the aforesaid sentences.
(Source: P.A. 86-962.)

For those that wish to blow this off as meaningless, we encourage them to read the penalties that may be imposed for a Class B Misdemeanor at this link.

Some examples as to what constitutes a violation of the County Budget law are spelled out in the law below with emphasis added.

 (55 ILCS 5/6-1005) (from Ch. 34, par. 6-1005)
    Sec. 6-1005. Contract or obligation in excess of appropriation. Except as herein provided, neither the county board nor any one on its behalf shall have power, either directly or indirectly, to make any contract or do any act which adds to the county expenditures or liabilities in any year anything above the amount provided for in the annual budget for that fiscal year. Provided, however, that the County Board may lease from any Public Building Commission created pursuant to the provisions of the Public Building Commission Act, approved July 5, 1955, as heretofore or hereafter amended, any real or personal property for county purposes for any period of time not exceeding twenty years, and such lease may be made and the obligation and expense thereunder incurred without making a previous appropriation therefor, except as otherwise provided in Section 5-1108. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to deprive the board of the power to provide for and cause to be paid from the county funds any charge upon said county imposed by law independently of any action of such board. Except as herein provided, no contract shall be entered into and no obligation or expense shall be incurred by or on behalf of a county unless an appropriation therefor has been previously made.
(Source: P.A. 86-962.)

The short version, they must first have the funds appropriated before obligating them in any contract, expenditure, or liability. The appropriates are the horse in front of the cart.  We find no exception to the fact an appropriation must be on the books before establishing an obligation.  There are strict limits on amending a budget that must be done before creating the liability against the county.

In Shelby County, the Farm Committee recognized this law and chose to comply by not creating a liability or entering a contract.  They did the right thing.

However, some of those same members and others appear to have knowingly ignored the law with other obligations and contracts that were not appropriated.

• Memorandum of Understanding with the FOP Union
• The hiring of outside counsel by the State’s Attorney
• The hiring of a consulting firm to assist with the county budget

The MOU approved by the county board had no funding to support it.  The county had to amend the budget to put money in the budget under an approved provision however it is the amendment that should have been done before any MOU was approved.  The board put the cart before the horse.

The State’s Attorney appointed a Special Assistant State’s Attorney, however, there was no appropriation in her budget for the liability created by the appointment.  Without the appropriation, it appears to be a direct violation of the law. That expenditure is the one that was improperly classified as Holiday and Overtime pay in the Sheriff’s budget, which also did not have the budget for the obligation created by the State’s Attorney.  WAND 17 did a great job covering that at the end of this news cast.  It is our opinion that the State’s Attorney has no power to impose her appointment expenses on another elected office holder’s budget as only the elected officeholder has control over their office.

The County Board’s approval of a contract for $12,000 to a private consultant was done knowing there were no appropriations for such a contract and that fact was confirmed prior to the vote. Without the appropriation in the budget, the contract should have never been approved.

Do they know the law?  The answer is yes.  They know it because they have voted no on some matters because they did not have any budget for it.

It appears the Shelby County Board is choosing to be selective when they do or do not follow the budget law and considering the State’s attorney is also involved it appears the contract with the people is clearly being ignored.

For those that continue to complain about Illinois and its pattern of disregard for the laws, maybe demanding prosecution for violations of the law by local officials could turn the tide and bring Illinois out of the ice age and in line with other states who do prosecute violations of local government laws.