On Monday, the Kane County Board hosted an in-person town hall meeting in Aurora to answer questions about the sales tax referendum question being put to voters in the county on April 1.
Next month, Kane County voters will be asked whether they support a 0.75% sales tax increase meant to boost funding for the county’s public safety services.
The town hall was held at the Santori Public Library in downtown Aurora, and offered residents a chance to learn and ask questions about the referendum in advance of next month’s election.
District 4 Kane County Board member Mavis Bates gave a presentation at Monday’s town hall, emphasizing the public safety services the funds generated by the referendum would be earmarked for, per state law.
The majority of the county’s funds already go toward public safety costs, Bates said on Monday.
“That’s our main job, as it should be,” she said Monday.
The presentation also highlighted some of the public safety services that would be funded in part by the referendum, such as prosecuting child pornography cases, veterans suicide prevention support programs and opioid abuse prevention services. Bates also noted that some of the funds generated by a successful referendum would go toward upgrading aging public safety facilities.
A sales tax increase of 0.75% means buyers would pay 75 cents more in tax on every $100 they spend on items covered by the tax in Kane County. The county has said there are exemptions for essential items like groceries and prescription medications, which Bates noted are determined by Illinois tax law.
Bates said the referendum proposes a sales tax, rather than a property tax, so as to share costs with visitors to Kane County and because homeowners already contribute “their fair share.”
“We’ve been working on a flat budget,” Bates said Monday, noting that the county has not seen a property tax increase – aside from increases for new construction – in more than a decade. “Imagine if your family had had no raises, your Social Security checks had had no cost of living increases. … Our belt just keeps getting tighter and tighter and tighter.”
Bates said the sales tax offers another revenue option besides a property tax increase.
Separate from the proposed sales tax measure, the county board’s approved 2025 budget does include a $2 million property tax levy increase, the first hike in the levy since 2013 except increases to account for new construction, according to past reporting. The property tax levy increase, excluding an increase for new construction, was proposed for 3.4% to match the Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation set by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While the sales tax referendum only addresses public safety expenses, Kane County Finance Director Kathleen Hopkinson has previously said that the referendum would have a spillover effect, freeing up some of the funds going toward public safety already to other departments and offices.
According to the county, services that would receive revenue from the successful passage of the referendum question include the offices of the sheriff, state’s attorney, public defender, coroner and circuit clerk; KaneComm 911; Public Health and the Office of Emergency Management.
The proposed 0.75% sales tax hike is expected to generate upwards of $50 million annually, Hopkinson previously said. If voters don’t approve the referendum question, the county would have to dip into its 90-day reserve funds to balance the 2026 budget, according to past reporting, provided spending remains about the same as 2025. That would leave the county with only about $8 million above the required 90-day reserves, Hopkinson has said.
A sales tax referendum has been top of mind for the county board for months, touted by some as a possible solution to the county’s cash flow problems. The county has been dipping into its cash reserves to balance its budget, which officials have previously said will be used up by 2027 or 2028 if spending or revenue doesn’t change.
For example, the county’s proposed $416.6 million budget for 2025 uses $29.3 million in reserves from its general fund, not including millions in cuts proposed by the Kane County Board Finance Committee. The referendum wouldn’t help balance the county budget until 2026, however, Hopkinson previously said.
In September, the Kane County Board approved putting the sales tax referendum question on the April 1 ballot.
In opposition to Bates’ presentation, that was largely in support of the referendum’s role in advancing public safety programs and infrastructure, public comments at Monday’s town hall came in sharply against the measure over the cost to residents – including some pushback from within the county government.
Kane County Treasurer Chris Lauzen asked Bates a series of questions about the sales tax increase’s expected collection, how much the county receives in general fund revenue and other finance questions, criticizing the county’s spending and board members’ not furnishing some figures about the budget at Monday’s meeting.
Cheryl Dennin, a resident of the county, asked why the county’s annual budget had increased significantly between 2020 and 2024.
According to county records, the 2020 budget’s general fund expenditures increased from nearly $88 million to just over $92 million from 2019 to 2020. In 2023, that number reached just over $123 million, and went down to around $122 million in 2024.
Bates said that lower operating costs for the county during the COVID-19 pandemic were an “anomaly” due to the influx of federal pandemic funds, and said that federal money the county no longer has was used to pay for some staff salaries during that time, though Dennin suggested that salaries alone were not enough to explain the increase in spending over the past few years.
“In order to retain the best of the best, we need to provide a good incentive to them,” District 6 Kane County Board member Sonia Garcia said on Monday about the need for salary increases to remain competitive with neighboring counties.
Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog also noted that infrastructure repairs were also increasing expenses – replacing air conditioners at the Kane County Judicial Center and elevators at the courthouse, for example.
Brian Anderson, a resident of Sugar Grove, also criticized the county’s hiring of a lobbyist, which board members said was hired to help the county save money in the long run. After some back-and-forth, Bates ultimately called the meeting.
This town hall was the fourth hosted by the county about the referendum. They will be holding three more in-person meetings for residents to ask questions and offer feedback on the referendum: at the St. Charles Public Library at 5:30 p.m. on March 6, at the Geneva Library at 5:30 p.m. on March 10 and at the Sugar Grove Public Library at 5 p.m. on March 25.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
