Finance chair says county clerk did not follow budget submission rules; litigation ongoing

Finance Committee Chair Conroy said Aug. 26 that County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek did not submit a fiscal year 2026 budget in the county's required format and that no representative from the clerk's office attended the committee to present the office budget. The chair said the clerk’s package was delivered to the county board office rather than uploaded into the county’s OpenGov budget system, and that the submission lacked account numbers, supporting documentation, and revenue or expense detail. "The submission was a combination of the clerk's general fund budgets with 3 tabs only entitled equipment, materials, and services which does not comply with the county's code," Conroy said, noting that the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court had confirmed related…