Kane County committee approves $66,667.57 settlement in impact-fee collection case; clarifies staff authority for small delays

The Kane County Legal Affairs and Claims Committee approved a $66,667.57 settlement in a county impact-fee collection lawsuit against OM Huntley Realty and discussed giving staff continued discretion to accept small time-value-of-money payment arrangements without returning to the committee.

The committee approved the payment plan during its regular meeting after hearing from Chris Weldon of the Kane County State's Attorney's Office, who described the matter as a collection case arising from unpaid impact fees. Weldon said the county sought collection in circuit court and that the settlement would “essentially pay for the entire amounts.” He identified the county's case as County of Kane v. OM Huntley Realty, covering four parcels at 12990 through 12998 Route 47 in Huntley, Illinois, and asked the committee to approve settlement in case number 2024LA000613.

Weldon told the committee the amount claimed and requested in the settlement is $66,667.57 and that the county's impact-fee ordinance does not allow the county to collect additional fees, costs, or interest. He said the proposed arrangement would split payment into two installments so that the total would be paid within 60 days.

Committee members then discussed whether similar short payment-delay settlements should be handled by staff under existing authority. Committee members noted the board had previously given staff authority to settle cases up to $10,000. The state's attorney's office described a method of equating a payment delay to a dollar amount using standard judgment-interest calculations; the office said where the time-value-of-money calculation would amount to less than $10,000, staff would treat the settlement as within that delegated authority and not bring the matter back to committee.

A motion to approve the settlement in case number 2024LA000613 for $66,667.57 was moved by Deppi and seconded by Roth. The committee took a roll-call vote; members present voted to approve the settlement (Gums: yes; Roth: yes; Deppi: yes; Williams: yes). The chair announced the motion passed.

The committee did not identify additional penalties or late fees available under the county ordinance and did not add further conditions to the settlement as presented. The committee also indicated general agreement that staff should continue to exercise delegated authority on future matters where the calculated time-value-of-money would not exceed the existing $10,000 threshold.

The committee adjourned following the vote.