Bickering in DuPage County reveals lack of oversight and loss of millions of tax dollars

When recreational marijuana became legal in Illinois in 2020, it seemed like an easy source of new revenue for local governments. DuPage County was among many that enacted a sales tax on cannabis.

But by mid-2021, officials there noticed they weren’t getting any of the new money.

The Illinois Department of Revenue said the county never notified it to collect the tax.

The county clerk said she sent notification, but there was no record of it. County officials estimate they lost some $3 million in 18 months.

Then a separate dispute arose in DuPage over $265,000 in clerk’s bills for election materials. County officials delayed payment, saying the bills didn’t comply with requirements — while the clerk replied that the county had no such authority over her.

While dealing with that, officials discovered that the county auditor had failed to file legally required quarterly reports since taking office in 2020.

This dysfunction was unusual for DuPage, but was not unprecedented in Illinois. Kane County also missed out initially on cannabis taxes due to a similar lack of notice to the state, leading to finger-pointing among county officials. At least every decade or so, the Illinois attorney general has been drawn into battles between county boards and elected county officials.

This time, the DuPage clerk controversy even led to a change in state law. But the bickering continues, and more are apt to crop up statewide.

“This is an issue of transparency and fiscal responsibility with our voters,” DuPage County Board Chair Deb Conroy said. “We’re doing everything we can to make sure … we can stop these disputes.”

Clerk Jean Kaczmarek blames county officials for failing to realize they were missing out on cannabis taxes, and remains defiant , refusing to appear before the County Board, saying the law is on her side.

“I came in as an activist, and I’m going to continue to challenge the county and make sure they’re following the law,” she said. “I’m not going to look the other way.”

Kaczmarek, a Democrat, was part of a sea change in the politics of the county, which had been a Republican stronghold for decades. She was first elected in 2018 as part of a “blue wave,” on a pledge to improve DuPage County elections. Even critics credited her with speeding up election results and allowing residents to vote at any polling place, though Republicans challenged the 2020 results.

Conroy, a former state representative and school board member from Elmhurst, became the first Democrat in decades and first woman to lead the majority-Democratic County Board when she was elected in 2022.

Auditor Bill White, an attorney and certified internal auditor, was elected in 2020 by a thin 58-vote margin against incumbent Bob Grogan, who plans to run again this year. White describes himself as “vigilant watchdog” of county finances, and said the failure to file quarterly reports was due in part to a lack of technology and staff, after several key office members left.

He said he will get those reports filed by the end of July doing it the old-fashioned way, by hand.

Both Kaczmarek and board members have criticized White, but Conroy said he at least is trying to work with the county to do his job.

To prevent a repeat of the cannabis tax fiasco, White filed a report recommending the clerk develop written procedures for transmittal of ordinances, including using certified mail to ensure delivery to the state.

Kaczmarek said while the clerk’s office routinely sends hundreds of such notices, it’s up to the county Finance and other departments to make sure that ordinances are being followed and taxes collected.

The county administration and clerk have resolved most of the initial backlog of bills. But new contract payments keep getting delayed because county officials maintain they should have been put out to bid, or gotten proper authorization or paperwork.

“We are concerned that the clerk’s office is not following Illinois state law and continues to not listen to or take the legal advice of our state’s attorney office,” 10 board members wrote in a letter to Conroy. “This issue of the clerk not working with the county has come to a tipping point and now we are talking about hundreds of thousands of ‘taxpayers money’ that have no oversight or transparency.”

Kaczmarek said she runs an independent office that has to make expenditures to ensure fair elections and has internal controls to keep contracts on the up and up.

Frustrated by the clerk’s lack of cooperation, Conroy got state lawmakers to change the law to require county officials to comply with procurement procedures, she said. The clerk’s office said it’s unclear what effect the change will have.

Meanwhile, contractors continue to have to wait months to be paid.

Truly Engaging CEO Brenda Baird-Watterson called for the county to pay her company and other vendors.

“Whoever has the legal authority … please pay your bills, pay us and pay those that are waiting as well.”

The County Board is due to meet Tuesday and may consider some of these issues.

Alisa Kaplan, executive director of good-government group Reform for Illinois, urged the parties to come together to improve these basic functions.

“There seem to be several layers of dysfunction here, both within individual offices and in their relationships with each other,” she told the Tribune. “It does seem like county officials are taking these issues seriously and trying to address them. Hopefully there’ll be a thorough review of how these failures happened and how to prevent similar problems in the future.”