The General Fund: Paying for Kane County’s Core Services
The General Fund is Kane County’s main operating account. It is allocated annually by the County Board to fund the essential services that affect the daily life of county residents, such as:
| Sheriff’s Office | Justice System | Health & Human Services | County Clerk | County Administration |
| Law enforcement | State’s Attorney | Emergency preparedness | Elections & voter registration | County board & chairperson |
| Jail operations and services | Judiciary & courts | Health programs Communicable disease control | Vital records | Finance, Human Resources & Information Technology |
| Court security | Court services | Housing programs | Tax extension | County auditor |
| Prisoner transport | Probation department | Environmental health | Tax rate certification | Property tax related services |
| Emergency response | Public Defender | Employment programs | Planning, zoning & building codes | |
| Coroner’s office | Community development | Investment of public funds |
For good fiscal management the General Fund should maintain a reserve of 16% to 30% of annual expenses (about 2 to 3.5 months of county operating expenses).
The money in the General Fund comes mainly from property taxes, sales taxes, Illinois state income tax distributions to the county, and fines/fees charged to users of county services.
Data for the General Fund expenses by Expenditure Type chart are shown in the table and chart below:
| Kane County Expenses Fiscal Year 2020 – 2025 General Fund Only by Expenditure Type ($ Million) | ||||||
| Expenditure type | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
| Capital | $0.33 | $0.19 | $0.10 | $0.05 | $0.09 | $0.18 |
| Commodities | $8.28 | $8.00 | $9.08 | $6.64 | $6.74 | $5.61 |
| Contingency & Other | $0.00 | $0.01 | $1.00 | $1.00 | $0.38 | $0.47 |
| Contractual Services | $18.64 | $16.58 | $17.54 | $13.20 | $11.91 | $10.98 |
| Personnel Services- Employee Benefits | $31.32 | $14.36 | $16.47 | $14.66 | $12.61 | $12.25 |
| Personnel Services- Salaries & Wages | $87.96 | $80.44 | $73.68 | $66.66 | $60.02 | $59.13 |
| Services | -$15.07 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Transfers Out | $9.00 | $6.29 | $5.51 | $27.59 | $31.51 | $24.38 |
| Total | $140.46 | $125.88 | $123.37 | $129.80 | $123.26 | $113.00 |
Chart data details by department are shown in the table below:
| Kane County Expenses Fiscal Year 2020 – 2025 General Fund Only by Department ($ Million) | ||||||
| Department | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
| Sheriff | $40,408 | $33,361 | $39,336 | $37,234 | $33,031 | $33,365 |
| Other County-Wide Group Ins | $15,720 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Court Services | $14,026 | $14,430 | $14,395 | $13,666 | $13,343 | $13,143 |
| Other- Countywide Expenses | $12,753 | $22,988 | $8,830 | $31,007 | $34,338 | $27,057 |
| State’s Attorney | $12,290 | $10,942 | $10,533 | $8,727 | $7,185 | $5,723 |
| Building Management | $7,965 | $7,857 | $9,037 | $6,253 | $5,623 | $4,693 |
| County Clerk | $5,755 | $5,531 | $4,594 | $4,109 | $3,867 | $3,853 |
| Circuit Clerk | $5,260 | $5,568 | $6,180 | $4,182 | $3,869 | $3,901 |
| Information Technologies | $5,240 | $4,977 | $5,114 | $4,603 | $4,285 | $4,191 |
| Public Defender | $5,128 | $5,194 | $4,821 | $4,633 | $4,261 | $4,179 |
| Judiciary and Courts | $4,502 | $4,254 | $4,212 | $3,626 | $3,516 | $3,203 |
| All Other | $11,416 | $10,778 | $16,323 | $11,760 | $9,945 | $9,688 |
| Total | $140,464 | $125,880 | $123,375 | $129,800 | $123,264 | $112,996 |
An alternative view of how Kane County has budgeted expenses over the last five years is by looking at changes in how costs were allocated by the type of expenditure, such as wages, employee benefits, etc.
Salary & Wage Increases
In the last five years, Kane County has experienced rapid growth in salaries and wages due to increases in staffing levels and higher pay rates. In April 2025, Kane County began to take steps to reduce staffing levels, including a hiring freeze and attrition program, due to budget pressures.
| Kane County Employees on Payroll | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
| Full time | 2,512 | 1,978 | 2,216 | 1,881 | 2,209 |
| Part time | 1,657 | 1,632 | 1,565 | 1,500 | 1,443 |
| Total Employees | 4,169 | 3,610 | 3,781 | 3,381 | 3,652 |
| Kane County Payroll | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
| Full time | 111,945,059 | 95,017,604 | 91,615,369 | 78,922,026 | 79,203,808 |
| Part time | 2,685,439 | 2,016,369 | 225,239 | 1,639,665 | 1,485,630 |
| Total Employees | 114,630,498 | 97,033,973 | 91,840,608 | 80,561,691 | 80,689,438 |
| Average Payroll Cost per Employee | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
| Full time | 44,564 | 48,037 | 41,343 | 41,957 | 35,855 |
| Part time | 1,621 | 1,236 | 144 | 1,093 | 1,030 |
| All Employees | 46,185 | 49,273 | 41,487 | 43,051 | 36,885 |
Pay rates were increased significantly in 2022 in line with the broader labor market and important to retain employees but further increased the County’s expenses. The sheriff, county clerk and treasurer all saw increases in that time. In 2024, for the same reasons the Board also approved increases for the Circuit Clerk, Recorder, Auditor and Coroner. Also in 2024, employees received a 3.2 percent COLA, along with a 1 percent merit pay pool increase. In 2025 the COLA dropped back to 2.5 percent.
Employee Benefits
Although the chart indicates that the 2025 Employee Benefits expense category more than doubled, much of this increase results from a change in accounting practices that transferred health insurance, FICA, IMRF, SLE and workers compensation expenses into the General Fund budget from other accounts.
Healthcare rates increased 3.59 percent in Fiscal 2025. Fiscal 2025 pension contribution rates for the regular plan increased from 4.58 percent to 5.4 percent. For the Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Plan, rates increased from 16.93 percent to 17.38 percent.
In 2025, there was a net negative balance in the services budget category because the County received reimbursements for Court Services, and a DCEO Bond Defeasance Grant from the State of Illinois which were applied in this category.
