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DuPage County finance department outlines 2026 budget, flags postage refund, tort liability and headcount questions
Summary
Finance staff presented the department and Tort Liability Fund budgets and described a $250,000 postage refund, projected insurance payouts and ongoing questions about professional services, contingency budgeting and persistent open headcount across county departments.
Jennifer Sims, director of finance, presented the finance department and Tort Liability Fund budgets to the DuPage County Finance Committee on June 10, detailing department functions, revenue and several items the committee pressed for clarification.
Sims told the committee finance provides budgeting, procurement, accounts payable, accounting, auditing, grants, risk management and mail-room services, and manages county financial systems. She said the department generates approximately $1.1 million in revenue, largely through indirect cost reimbursements.
Sims said a recent review of the postage account identified a $250,000 surplus on a postage machine that staff asked to be refunded; the money has been returned to the general fund and is earning investment income, she said. “We asked for that to be refunded to us. And we got that refunded, a couple months ago and it's now sitting in the general fund,” Sims said.
On tort liability, committee members noted a large 2024 insurance expense and asked whether future premiums could rise because of the county’s cybersecurity incident. Sims said renewal discussions were under way with the county’s broker and that staff hoped renewals would be flat or improve. She also explained that tort liability professional services budgets can fluctuate because claims and attorney fees are difficult to predict.
Committee members raised several related concerns: Member Kajewski and others pointed to a persistent pattern of departments budgeting significantly more in some line items than they actually spend, which limits the board's ability to reallocate funds during the fiscal year. Sims explained that contingency and claims-related lines are intentionally conservative because payouts are uncertain, and that some unspent funds remain in specific fund balances (for example, tort fund balances remain in that fund).
Members pressed on payroll and headcount. Sims and other finance staff said the department has reduced open headcount in recent years and that some salary underspending occurred because staff time was charged to ARPA or other grants. Finance staff said the county currently carries roughly 100–150 open funded headcount across the general fund at any given time and that they are tracking the duration of vacancies.
Several board members requested more regular, timely financial reporting. Member Kajewski asked for a short monthly update showing key revenue lines and actual-to-budget figures; finance staff said they plan to provide ongoing reports and will use the committee’s presentation as a template for other departments.
The committee discussed whether some contingency amounts might be moved between line items; Sims offered to shift some of the professional-services budget into a contingency account to reflect uncertain litigation needs. Members and staff agreed to continue follow-up in the budget process and to provide updated projections as departmental budgets are submitted.
