DuPage finance head reports on ‘improving’ budget picture

• Reprints

Updated: March 18, 2012 8:03AM

Nationally and locally, the economy appears to be on the mend. Most economists and financial professionals think so — but that doesn’t necessarily mean the roller-coaster has come to a complete stop.

Fred Backfield, DuPage County’s chief financial officer, wrapped up fiscal 2011, as it went for the general fund, in a report to the County Board Tuesday morning that also included a peek at the spending year to come. There was more good news than bad.

Receipts from local sales taxes exceeded expectations, surpassing the original 2011 budget estimate by nearly $3 million.

After remaining flat from 2009 to 2010, sales tax income rose by nearly $5 million last year, suggesting “economic recovery was occurring,” Backfield said.

Also a bright spot of sorts was an uptick in payments from the state, which made some progress on the balance it owes the county, now about $2.4 million.

Overall, receipts outpaced spending last year by some $3.4 million.

Cautiously optimistic, budget planners set preliminary projections for personnel expenses in the 2012 budget year at $106.7 million, an increase of 2.7 percent that includes the first cost of living adjustment given to county workers since 2009. Employee pay accounts for almost 72 percent of the general fund outlays, which came to $159.8 million last year.

Spending projections remain on the conservative side for the remaining 9 1/2 months of fiscal 2012, despite the above-average revenue coming in last year.

“Expectations need to be managed,” said Backfield, who reported the county’s share of real estate transfer fees is expected to remain relatively flat for the next five years.

One potential line item that was kept out of the financial update was a pending $3 million fund transfer the county plans to make for construction of the new Jeanine Nicarico Children’s Advocacy Center and DuPage Family Center. The $4.2 million facility, named in memory of the Naperville 10-year-old who was taken from her home and murdered in 1983, is being financed largely with an in-house loan that will be retired with help from the county’s share of ticket surcharges.

Backfield said it’s uncertain whether any of the sum will be disbursed for the children’s center project this year, but if so, cash flow could be affected slightly.

He said with the recovery on a slow track, the county is in a “slowly improving overall economic situation,” and noted that the budget bottom line shows a $169 million decrease in spending since 2003.