St. Clair Co., Ill (ECWd) –
It has come to our attention that the Veterans Assistance Commission (“VAC”) of St. Clair County has budgeted in (current budget year) 2026 for paying rent, purchasing computers and services, and purchasing telephone services and equipment using the tax levy funds intended for assistance to Veterans, however, the county is statutorily mandated to pay for those items out of the county general fund.
Their $143,000 + salaried Superintendent should know better and needs to fix this.
The VAC budgeted in 2026 for, among other things, the following paid from the VAC tax levy:
- $21,438 for rent
- $20,000 for office furniture
- $10,000 for office supplies
- $10,000 for telephone
- $4,000 software maintenance contract
- $500 repair and maintain building
- $54,000 for legal services – *this expense is permissible, but could be obtained from the State’s Attorney at no cost to the VAC
This is $66,000 is unlawful expenses paid using the VAC tax levy which should be paid by the county’s general fund, and an additional $54,000 for legal services they could be getting from the State’s Attorney’s office at no cost to the VAC, bringing the total to $120,000, or almost 11% of the VAC’s budget for this year that they did not need to spend.
Next year is projected to see a $78,000 increase (to $100,000 in the new building after renovations) in unlawful rent expenses, which would bring the budgeted percentage to nearly 18% of the VAC budget for 2017 if all others remain the same.
LaSalle County and Winnebago County ran across similar issues a few years ago, with the Attorney General’s Opinions Bureau issuing two informal opinions, I-24-008 and I-24-009. Previous opinions include I-16-002 and others. Within those opinions, the AG included the following:
- Commissions, like all non-home-rule counties, may exercise only those powers expressly granted to them by the constitution or by statute, along with those powers that are necessarily implied therefrom to effectuate the powers expressly granted…(Dillon’s Rule).
- Nothing in the statute (Military Veterans Assistance Act (“MVAA”)) expressly authorizes the Commission to purchase and own real estate (insert rent here also). The AG compared this Act’s language to the Counties Code which expressly authorizes a county to purchase or lease real estate. A Community Mental Health Board and many other local governments are also expressly granted those powers by statute. In other words, expressio unius est exclusio alterius, the express permission of one thing implies the exclusion of others.
- The counties code mandates the county provide for the “funding of the office and provide all necessary furnishings (desks, etc), supplies, and services as passed by the county board in its annual appropriation.” This mandate also includes Information Technology services and equipment (computers, etc), telephone services and equipment, printing services and equipment, postage costs, and liability insurance.
- The VAC cannot use its tax levy funds to purchase information technology services or equipment for the Commission – the county must pay for it through the county’s general fund.
- The Appellate Court has agreed on this and similar issues:
- Veterans Assistance Comm’n of Grundy County v. County Board a/Grundy County, 2016 IL App (3d) 130969, 148. Finding that section 10 “mandates that the county provide the office for the [Commission] and furnish it with all the necessary supplies.”
- Using proceeds from the tax levy to pay for services not explicitly authorized by section 5-2006 would “reduce the amount of funds available for the primary purpose of funding assistance to veterans and their families[.]” Ill. Att’y Gen. Inf. Op. No. I-16-002 at 5.
Recently, the local newspaper has reported that there will be $100,000 in the 2027 budget for rent, which, again, is the duty of the county to pay from its general fund, not from the VAC tax levy.
We urge those Veterans and Commissioners of the St. Clair County VAC to demand the State’s Attorney assist the VAC Superintendent and County Board in realizing the payments for these items must come from the county general fund and not the VAC tax levy funds.
