Dozens of local leaders and community members gathered Tuesday for the 2026 State of Kane County address, at which Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog and other county leaders discussed the county’s priorities, financial outlook and current and future efforts in areas like economic development and emergency preparedness.
The event was put on by local chambers of commerce in Batavia, Aurora, Geneva, St. Charles, Elgin, Elburn, Sugar Grove, Huntley, Hampshire, Greater Montgomery and Northern Kane County, and it was held at Eagle Brook Country Club in Geneva.
Kane County has gone through a “year of transition,” Pierog said at Tuesday’s event.
The county is no longer experiencing the significant population growth it was in the past, Pierog said, and is seeing changes in things like its workforce and transportation systems.
The changes going on in county government include the future establishment of an ethics commission, Pierog said, and Kane County’s emergency communications center, called KaneComm, beginning a structural review.
This year was also the first in a number of years that the Kane County Board passed a budget that does not rely on its dwindling cash reserves, Pierog pointed out. Approved in August, the $402.9 balanced budget is for the fiscal year beginning on Dec. 1.
“This is … significant for Kane County,” Pierog said at the event on Tuesday.
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But she cautioned that financial stability is about more than just balancing a single year’s budget, and also involves “preserving reserves, controlling recurring costs and maintaining the capacity to respond to (the county’s) next challenge.”
Pierog pointed to the fact that the county, for a number of years, did not increase its general fund property tax levy except to account for new construction, saying that the county saved residents money or “left money on the table,” depending on how one looks at it. She said she hopes the board will continue to raise the property tax levy in future years to keep up with rising expenses.
As for the county’s use of cash reserves to balance prior years’ budgets, Pierog pointed to costs like raises for employees and rising energy costs.
The county’s finances were also discussed Tuesday by Supervisor of Assessments Mark Armstrong, who brought up the costs to the county of late tax bills in terms of interest income lost, as well as interest the county then has to pay when borrowing money by way of, for example, tax anticipation warrants.
As for county priorities going forward, one Pierog highlighted was transportation, including the county’s 2026-2030 transportation improvement program, which includes $596.4 million in work.
The county is also impacted, she said, by the recent replacement of the RTA with the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, or NITA.
Meanwhile, Pierog said, transportation is not separate from the issue of housing, nor from things like workforce development and economic development.
On these goals, Pierog noted efforts like the Kane County Affordable Housing Fund, which provides financing to developers in order to incentivize the development and preservation of affordable housing throughout the county.
But she said the county needs far more affordable housing than it currently has.
When it comes to economic development, Pierog pointed to not just “downtowns and commercial corridors,” but also the importance of supporting the county’s rural economy.
Chris Toth, planning division manager for the Kane County Development and Community Services Department, likewise said at Tuesday’s event that agritourism is one economic area the county is looking to promote.
And Michael Cassa, CEO of the recently-launched Kane County Economic Development Corporation, spoke to the priorities of business retention and expansion, business attraction and collaboration.
Sustainability and recent weather events also came up at Tuesday’s event.
On the environmental side of things, Jodie Wollnik, the director of the county’s Environmental and Water Resources Department, said the county is seeing a lot of new solar energy projects, and pointed to recent changes in state legislation that restrict a county’s or municipality’s ability to deny solar or wind proposals if the development meets state standards.
A lot of what Wollnik’s department does is recycling, she said, indicating that the county recycled 812,000 pounds of electronics this past year, along with tens of thousands of pounds of documents and textiles. The department also does recycling education, she noted.
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Wollnik also pointed to “flood resilience” as an area of focus, particularly given the early July storms in the area. She said the county has developed an online tool residents can use to submit flood reports so the county can see if there are particular areas that are flooding that may need infrastructure improvements.
The county is working on general emergency preparedness efforts, which were discussed by Scott Buziecki, the county’s director of the Office of Emergency Management. Being prepared, he said, requires planning beforehand, training people and educating the public.
Pointing out that governments can’t do all of this alone, Buziecki discussed Disaster Ready Kane, a countywide network of nonprofits, faith organizations, businesses, social service organizations, community groups and governments focusing on natural disaster preparation, response and recovery.
In all, Pierog said on Tuesday that she thinks the county is entering the next year “from a position of considerable strength.”
“But important challenges truly remain,” she added.
She pointed to things like continued infrastructure work, demand for affordable housing and the need for economic opportunities for agricultural communities.
“Kane County’s future should be financially responsible, economically competitive, environmentally resilient and centered on the needs of our people,” she said. “If we plan carefully, invest responsibly and work across communities, we can grow without losing our wonderful, historic and marvelous identity.”