DuPage County building and zoning department outlines 2026 budget proposal, cites staffing and collections plan

The DuPage County Development Committee on July 1 received a presentation on the Building and Zoning Department's proposed 2026 budget, which department staff said is funded as an enterprise fund and supported primarily by permit fees, fines and related revenues.

Jim (department presenter) told the committee the office is funded through permitting, zoning, planning, adjudication, clean-and-lien fees and fines. "We are an enterprise fund. We are not part of the general fund," Jim said, and he walked members through recent operating metrics and the department's revenue and expenditure outlook.

Staff reported operating figures through May and near-term projections. Through May the department had issued about 1,546 permits; staff said single-family home permits numbered 35 so far in the year compared with 42 for the prior full year. Based on monthly averages and seasonal trends, staff said they project roughly 3,300 permits for the full year if current trends hold.

Revenue items described in the presentation included a projected increase in fines and forfeitures tied to a new collections effort. The county has about $1 million in outstanding adjudication fines, Jim said, and staff are finalizing a collections contract with a vendor recommended by the State's Attorney's Office; staff projected collecting several hundred thousand dollars annually once collections are underway. Investment income in the budget is an interest estimate provided by the Treasurer's Office.

On expenditures, staff said the bulk of the planned budget increase for 2026 relates to personnel changes: the department will propose transferring two senior IT/network analyst positions from Public Works into Building and Zoning (with reimbursement from the other departments those positions support), and it plans to budget an assistant manager position part-year as a succession-planning hire. Staff said there are 33 people currently in the department and that turnover since 2011 has been 54 employees; market adjustments to some salaries were proposed to retain staff.

Capital and contractual items described included a planned replacement of two department vehicles, and a prepaid three-year software payment for the Acela permitting system that the department said will be reimbursed by three other county departments. Jim said those prepayments increase the department's budgeted outlay in the short term but will be offset by reimbursements.

Committee members asked for more detail on investment types and reserve levels. Staff reported a cash balance of about $7.4 million as of May and said the Treasurer pools county funds and returns interest to departments based on account balances. Members also asked whether permit fees have changed; staff said permit fees have not been raised since 2008 and described several past fee adjustments, discounts and a tiered reinspection fee structure.

On enforcement and case processing, staff described adjudication steps: repeated attempts to secure compliance, filing a record for court when needed, and the use of liens and collections for persistent nonpayment. Staff acknowledged some cases can take a long time and offered to follow up on specific addresses cited by members.

No formal vote was taken on the budget during the committee meeting; staff will return with final budget materials and may update line-item details as the county moves toward final budget decisions.

Next steps: staff will provide additional breakdowns requested by committee members (detailed salary impact, reserve accounting, and investment type) and proceed with the collections contract process in coordination with the State's Attorney's Office.