Toftoy Dictates Kendall County Board Compensation Policy

(55 ILCS 5/3-3040) (from Ch. 34, par. 3-3040)

  Sec. 3-3040. Appointment of  deputies. Each coroner may appoint one or more deputies as the coroner, in his or her sole discretion, determines necessary and appropriate, subject  to county board appropriations. The appointment shall be in writing and signed by the coroner. A deputy's compensation shall be determined by the county board.

  (Source: P.A. 88-281.)

On 4-1-2012 the Kendall County Coroner’s Office went to a new deputy coroner compensation schedule, something that State Attorney Weis’s office and ASA Leslie Johnson said needed to be changed to comply with current IRS Rules and Regs. In doing so, it appears that the county board was never consulted by Kendall County Coroner Ken Toftoy for his proposed changes to the compensation schedule for his Deputy Coroners. Nor did Mr. Toftoy ever discuss his proposed new deputy coroner compensation schedule at any Kendall County Board Committee meetings. No Kendall County Board Open Meeting presentation was held by Mr. Toftoy to submit his new Deputy Coroner compensation schedule to our full County Board for their consideration.

Ken Toftoy unilaterally decided how he was going to pay his deputy coroners. Only on 8-28-2012, during the Kendall County Coroner Office’s Budget Hearing did this subject of deputy coroner compensation finally come up (5 months later) and only when the question was asked by Board Member Nancy Martin inquiring about “per diems”.

Always, Coroner Toftoy’s first defense for his extravagant spending and the other wasteful spending I documented and found in his office is to claim, “He operates his office under the state statutes.” (Video discussion on this new compensation subject ends at 9:09 of 29:02, about 5 total minutes to view this event)

Why Coroner Toftoy was unwilling to consult our county board on this critical subject of Deputy Coroner compensation and did so only when he was forced to at the 8-28-2012 Coroner’s Office Budget Hearing remains an unanswered question.

This unilateral decision for deputy coroner compensation was made by an arrogant elected official who is presently our Coroner. Mr. Toftoy’s attitude is based upon the fact that he thinks it is his money, not our taxpayer funds that are given to him to manage. Kenny always knows best, no matter what any state statute decrees and who cares what the county board thinks, I just do it my way, as I always have.

One of the county board’s primary functions is to watch how Constitutional Elected Officials spend county property tax funds, which are budgeted to them, and if that elected official needs to change something, that elected official needs to come before the county board and get the county board’s approval to do so. That did not happen here, Mr. Toftoy just decided he do it his way without any outside input or discussion.

You do not have to wait for Mr. Toftoy to comply, you have a chance to vote for a new coroner now, one that is ready to work with the county board and actually do real work for his pay, one that will listen to us taxpayers. You can refuse to accept business as usual and the status quo of self-serving/wasteful spending.

Maybe Kendall County needs a little more “Truth in Business,” the Question I want to ask Mr. Toftoy is, “How many deputy coroners do we actually have in the Kendall County Coroner’s Office?” If Ken Toftoy will not tell you, I will, next week.