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Committee debates handling of public-safety referendum funds; administrator says 'restricted fund' mechanism not used locally
Summary
Trustees debated whether revenues from the April 2024 public safety referendum should be placed in a separately restricted fund; administration said the village would track and, if warranted, restrict unspent referendum cash within the general fund at year-end rather than create a separate restricted fund.
Trustees spent an extended portion of the meeting discussing how to account for and protect revenue raised by the April 2024 public safety referendum that authorized funds for hiring police and firefighters.
Trustee Jan Miller asked that referendum revenues be placed into a restricted fund to ensure they are used only for hiring new personnel. Administration responded that local government accounting does not create ad-hoc "restricted funds" the way the trustee described. Instead, the administrator explained, the referendum revenues are in the village's general fund and that, after the fiscal year closes, staff would calculate the unspent portion associated with unfilled authorized positions and restrict that cash within the general fund for police and fire purposes by board action.
The administrator said: "Proper, common procedures doesn't allow us to create a, quote, restricted fund for these types of activities...as part of the year end process we would restrict that cash within the general fund to only be used for...police and fire." Trustee Tubbs, Trustee Warren and others expressed concern that treating referendum money as part of pooled levy revenue could be perceived as inconsistent with voters' intent. Trustee Bob Warren urged avoiding "digging into the weeds," saying the end result is the money can only be used for police and fire and that the department should determine best operational use (new hires, overtime, etc.).
No committee motion was recorded; staff said the topic would be discussed by the Village Board later the same evening. Trustees asked for clarification on how the accounting and audit trail would demonstrate the referendum funds were used as voters expected.
