Chuck Sweeney, local opinion columnist for the Rockford Register-Star newspaper points out the big hole in the way in which the Winnebago County Board operates which keeps it in the red. The Winnebago County Board sets a budget every year, but it apparently lets certain County Departmental heads walk all over the restraints of that budget when they want to exceed their individual budget allotments. Sweeney basically reveals that those department head County employees who have political clout feel free to approach individual County Board members for approval to overspend their departmental budgets when they run out of money. Sweeney indicates that this is apparently a routine occurrence, and that those individual County Board members often go along with these departmental requests and approve the excess expenditures.
http://www.rrstar.com/news/20161008/chuck-sweeny-saying-yes-to-amendment-demands-means-winnebago-county-has-no-budget
Well geez, now we really know why the Winnebago County Board can’t seem to rein in it’s County spending of taxpayer funds! They, as well as these departmental heads just don’t seem to understand what living within a financial budget means.
Most employees know they don’t stand a chance in going to the boss and asking for more money these days. The Winnebago County Board draws up a budget every year which requires Board votes for approval and passage. The fact that departmental heads would even think that they can confidently side-step the finality of that process by approaching a Board member to okay them additional funds indicates either extreme weakness and disunity in the Winnebago County Board or simple financial ineptitude.
That several departments came forward to successfully feed at this trough just recently despite the current County budget shortfall indicates how routine this practice is and how the County Board has created a monster it will now have to rein in if it is to get the County budget under control.
http://www.rrstar.com/news/20160804/winnebago-county-board-considers-15-million-in-budget-amendments-as-bigger-shortfall-looms
No wonder the County Board has Sheriff Caruana routinely grand-standing before it for more money for pet projects in his department.
Up for grabs is the question: Who is really in charge of our money in Winnebago County?
http://www.rrstar.com/news/20161008/chuck-sweeny-saying-yes-to-amendment-demands-means-winnebago-county-has-no-budget
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