DuPage County chair proposes $644.7 million balanced budget, $18.1 million sustainability fund to address food and housing needs

DuPage County Board chair presented the fiscal 2026 budget proposal to the county board, proposing a $644,700,000 balanced budget, a general fund of $263,100,000 and a $71,500,000 tax levy while proposing a new $18,100,000 DuPage Sustainability Initiative Fund to address immediate social-service needs and longer-term infrastructure and housing projects. "We will be fiscally responsible, and we will take care of people," the chair said during the address.

The proposal matters because the chair tied the plan to possible federal program cuts and recent state-level proposals that, the chair said, threatened county revenue and local control of regional transit funding. The plan is intended to use projected FY2025 surplus funds and FY2026 budget dollars to both respond to immediate needs and to invest in infrastructure that county officials say will protect vulnerable residents and county assets.

Most important elements of the proposal include: an $18,100,000 DuPage Sustainability Initiative Fund; $2,000,000 dedicated to immediate food support for pantries and meal distributors (a $1,000,000 FY2026 allocation plus a proposed $1,000,000 from FY2025 surplus); $2,500,000 proposed for the Loaves & Fishes Food Distribution Hub 2; a $10,000,000 housing innovation fund (combining a proposed $5,000,000 from FY2025 surplus with an existing $5,000,000 previously allocated to housing solutions); $2,500,000 for a Community Sustainability Fund to address unexpected impacts from federal program reductions; and other surplus allocations for stormwater, campus capital and reserves. The chair characterized the county's fiscal position as "healthy," noted a projection of at least $25,000,000 in FY2025 surplus and highlighted a AAA bond rating and fully funded IMRF pension obligations for FY2026.

On public safety and criminal-justice related services, the chair proposed higher 2026 budgets for the sheriff's office, the state's attorney and the public defender than their 2025 expenses and budget amounts. The chair also described continued support for court-based behavioral health services first requested by Chief Judge Bonnie Wheaton, including a behavioral health court navigator and additional mental-health resources at the courthouse, and said the county cut the ribbon on a new recovery center (referred to as the CRC) on Aug. 13 and recently accepted a $250,000 donation from the PGA Tour Foundation.

The chair proposed programmatic and capital allocations from the projected surplus, including $9,000,000 for stormwater management across the community, $4,000,000 for repairs at the Elmhurst Quarry (described as a flood-control facility), $5,000,000 for on-campus stormwater projects, $3,000,000 for additional campus capital needs, $1,000,000 to reserves, $1,000,000 to continue programs in the Hinsdale Lake Terrace development (including the bridal share program and preliminary engineering for sidewalk and street lighting work), and unspecified additional surplus dollars to complete the new transportation building on campus with minimal or no debt.

The chair said the budget team used actual expenditure figures from prior years and a five-year vacancy-rate average to align requests with revenue expectations and noted the clerk's office did not engage with the budget team for its request. The chair and finance committee members Paula Deacon Garcia and Cindy Cronin Cahill instructed staff to compare actual expenditures from the 2022 gubernatorial election cycle when setting the election-division budget for 2026.

On employee compensation and benefits, the chair proposed a 3% cost-of-living adjustment to be paid in December 2025, described a tradition of sharing costs (described as an $80/$20 employer-employee cost share) for health benefits, and said health-care costs would increase by more than 15 percent but that negotiated plan adjustments meant employees "will not see double-digit increases." The chair reiterated existing benefits including health, dental, life insurance, an employee assistance program, tuition reimbursement and a 12-week paid parental leave program.

The numbers and allocations described were presented as the chair's FY2026 proposal for board consideration; the transcript records the chair's presentation and proposals but does not record any formal motions or votes on these items during the address. The chair directed county staff to develop program details in multiple areas, including a down-payment assistance program for first-time homebuyers and work by the Housing Solutions Committee on a land bank and community housing trust. The address also included a stated concern about a state-level proposal in Springfield that the chair said threatened $72,000,000 in DuPage tax revenue and about changes to federal funding streams such as SNAP.

The next steps described in the presentation were for the board and staff to prioritize and finalize the proposed spending plan during the 2026 budget process; no final board approvals or formal actions on the proposal are recorded in the transcript.