LaSalle County veterans office seeks state renovation grant as committee trims VAC legal and travel budgets

LaSalle County veterans services officials told the county committee Sept. 11 that they applied for a state DCEO grant of up to $250,000 to renovate the VAC office and add private outreach space, and they updated members on pending legislation that could make the VAC a multi‑county (circuit) commission. The grant, VAC staff said, would pay for building changes to create separate counseling and outreach spaces so military‑service providers using the office would have private rooms. The DCEO grant is one of several topics that prompted discussion of how the VAC is funded and governed. Krista, the VAC director, said the legislature has passed related House provisions and that the package is now in the Senate. She told committee members that, if the bill becomes law and Bureau County asked LaSalle to serve as the circuit VAC, funding would come from both counties and LaSalle would hold and distribute the funds as the circuit court VAC. Committee members discussed practical and legal implications of consolidation and of the VAC's budget. Committee members noted the VAC's current levy request (about $693,700 as presented) and the VAC's cash on hand (reported in the meeting as $384,761). Several commissioners said levied funds are restricted to VAC use and that unspent balances have accumulated in the VAC account. The committee and county staff also reviewed an attorney general opinion cited in the meeting that, as interpreted by county counsel, suggests VACs cannot own property — a legal point that had affected prior VAC budget items and prompted the VAC to remove a property acquisition line from prior budgets. After extended discussion about prudence, transparency and statutory limits, the committee took three formal steps on VAC budgeting. First it rescinded an earlier procedural vote to forward the budget, reopened discussion, and then approved two specific cuts: a reduction in the VAC's budgeted legal services from the amount previously included to $10,000 and a reduction in travel from the requested figure to $12,000. The committee then voted to forward the amended budget to the finance committee for review. No policy changes were adopted about VAC governance at the meeting; committee members directed county counsel and finance staff to review statutory language and the attorney general's guidance and to address carryover ("unallocated") balances and levy calculations at future finance meetings. The committee's action alters only how the VAC's FY2026 request will be sent to finance and does not itself change VAC practice or authorizations. Pending items flagged by VAC staff — the DCEO grant outcome, the multi‑county bill in the Senate and any formal request from Bureau County — will return to the committee or to finance for follow up as those items develop.