By: Diane Benjamin

Budgeting low for optics is how government works. That is why many “budget amendments” happen throughout the year.

It isn’t departments that budget low, it’s administration cutting budgets to make themselves look good.

Since the 2025 County financial statement haven’t been issued yet, look at 2024:

https://mcleancountyil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/30155/ACFR-123120240001

PDF page 122 and following

All of these departments were OVER budget for the year:

County Board

Administration

Treasurer

County Clerk

Circuit Court

Sheriff

Coroner

Animal Control

Information Technology

Facilities Management

City of Bloomington Election Commission

Parks and Recreation

Did the County want to “claw back” money from these offices in 2024? https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2026-03-16/mclean-county-could-seek-reimbursement-from-clerks-office-for-budget-overruns

No they didn’t.

The now Democrat controlled County Board is trying to create chaos where none exists. If you look at 2023 on PDF page 122, it looks like the County Clerk spending was way under budget. Since the headings are confusing, that’s a guess.

The real story is Democrats want to control elections, therefore create chaos. End of story. They will probably try to appoint someone to run on the November ballot. The chaos is their idea of groundwork.

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