Jennifer Ingram, a Veterans Assistance Commission staff member, asked the Iroquois County Finance Committee on June 23 for a $165,000 appropriation for the commission's 2026 budget. She said the sum would cover staffing increases, provide a cash "pad" to avoid repeated short-term borrowing from the general fund and allow timely repayment of a previously approved $45,000 loan.

Ingram told the committee, "We are asking for a 165,000 in our budget for this year." She said the commission has relied on a $45,000 loan from the general fund approved earlier and expects continuing growth in claims and client contacts.

The VAC presented multiple financial figures to illustrate demand. Ingram said retroactive pay on claims processed this year totals about $1,382,433.61 and annual amounts total about $1,786,770.73; combined those figures were reported as roughly $3,168,624.34 (figures reflect the presenter's accounting through the most recent board meeting). She said the VAC is seeing about 15 to 20 veterans a week in her office and that claim development can take seven to eight hours per claim, sometimes longer, depending on medical records and complexity.

Ingram also referenced the Military Veterans Assistance Act when summarizing statutory limits for local VAC funding requests and said the $165,000 request is within the referenced percentage thresholds. She noted an internal breakdown in the request that would allocate $65,000 toward an assistant position and other funds to salary adjustments and operating expenses. Ingram said director and assistant training and travel are also in the request, and she asked that a miscellaneous line item be added to facilitate loan repayment and cash-flow management.

Committee members asked about line-item details, how the $45,000 loan would be repaid and whether the VAC board participated in preparing the numbers. Ingram said the VAC board approved the budget but that she had prepared the detailed numbers. She told the committee she planned to budget loan repayment as a transfer in the miscellaneous line (the loan has been budgeted as $15,000 per year over three years, according to her answers in committee).

Finance staff and committee members raised routine questions about specific line items, such as director education (budgeted at $3,000 this year for required benefits coursework) and telephone costs tied to a countywide phone vendor switch; Ingram and staff clarified those items during the discussion.

The committee did not take a formal vote during the presentation; the VAC's request will be considered in the finance committee's forthcoming budget deliberations.