Special Use “Restricted” Funds
Other Funds are the parts of the county budget that are made up of “restricted funds” that can only be used for specific purposes, which may be set by the terms of certain laws, grants or contracts. Some of these funds, such as grant funds, may only be available for a set period of time. There are more than 150 of these special use funds, which are further categorized as follows:
| Fund Type | Used for: | Examples |
| Special Revenue Funds | Transportation, public safety, health programs | Motor Fuel Tax, County Health Fund, Farmland Preservation Fund, etc. |
| Capital Project Funds | Infrastructure, facility upgrades | County Highway Fund, County Bridge Fund, Longmeadow Bond Construction, etc. |
| Enterprise Funds | Funding certain county services for which users pay the county a fee | Animal control fund, public health fees, marriage fees, developer fees, etc. |
| Grant Funds | Funds allocated to the County as part of state & federal programs | Coronavirus Relief Fund, American Recovery Act Fund |
| Internal Service Funds | Accounting for services that are provided internally to other county departments | Liability insurance fund, employee benefits fund, IT services fund, etc. |
Some special revenue funds (e.g., Health Department, Court Services) may also maintain targeted reserves due to the timing of expected state and federal reimbursements for costs.
Enterprise and Internal Service Funds often require reserves equal to a set number of months of operations and capital needs.
The money in these special use funds may come from a variety of sources, including tax revenue and fees, but much of the budget for these types of funds comes from federal or state grants awarded to the county to be used for specific purposes. A full list of Kane County’s special use funds are available on Kane County’s Open Finance website. A description of each fund type, and definitions of financial terms used in the budget are available in the County’s FY 2025 Budget document beginning on page 35.
