Montgomery County Audit Expected to Show $500,000 General Fund Deficit

Montgomery County Board Meeting | June 9, 2026

Article Summary: Montgomery County Treasurer Nikki Lohman warned the County Board on June 9 that the county’s pending FY2025 audit will probably reveal a General Fund deficit of roughly $500,000, which she attributed primarily to a wind farm permit fee counted as revenue but never collected and to grant money left in the wrong fund. The board voted the same night to certify an extension of the audit deadline.

FY2025 Audit Key Points:

• The anticipated deficit is about $500,000 in the General Fund for fiscal year 2025, according to the treasurer.
• Lohman attributed it primarily to a $250,000 wind farm application permit from UKA Energy that was reported as revenue but never filed, and to $450,000 in anticipated DCEO grant revenues left in the General Fund rather than transferred to the Grant Fund.
• The board approved the Circuit Clerk Certification of County Board Extension for Completion of the Annual Audit; audit reports are expected in July.
• Three departments — the Sheriff’s Office, Maintenance and Information Services — are seeking additional staff in the FY2027 budget against that backdrop.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — The Montgomery County Board on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, was told that the county’s forthcoming FY2025 audit will probably show a General Fund deficit of around $500,000, and voted the same evening to certify an extension of the deadline for completing that audit.

The warning came during the Finance & Budget Committee report, delivered by Committee Chairwoman Connie Beck, under an agenda item the minutes title “FY2027 Budget/FY2025 Audit Update/Approval.” Beck deferred to County Treasurer Nikki Lohman, who told the board the audit will probably reveal the shortfall.

Lohman attributed the deficit primarily to two items. The first was an anticipated $250,000 wind farm application permit from UKA Energy that, according to the minutes, was reported as revenue but never filed. The second was $450,000 in anticipated DCEO grant revenues that were left in the General Fund when they should have been transferred to the Grant Fund.

Neither figure was described as final. The audit itself has not been completed, and Beck said audit reports should be presented in July.

Two Deadlines, Two Extensions

The board acted on the audit timeline in the same report. On a motion by Beck and a second by Chris Daniels, members voted to approve the Circuit Clerk Certification of County Board Extension for Completion of the Annual Audit. All were in favor.

The certification form included in the board packet is signed by Daniel T. Robbins, clerk of the circuit court of Montgomery County, and filed under 705 ILCS 105/27.8. It identifies the fiscal year of the audit as 2025 and states that the county board granted an extension with an end date of Nov. 30, 2026, for completion of the audit of the office of the circuit clerk with the Illinois comptroller’s office.

A separate notice in the packet from the Illinois State Comptroller’s office shows the county was granted a 60-day extension to file its 2025 Annual Report and Annual Audit, moving that filing’s due date to July 28, 2026. The notice warns that reports not filed by the extension due date are subject to the forced audit process and that no separate notice of delinquency will be issued.

Beck told the committee the panel had discussed the need for extensions on audit deadlines.

Staffing Requests Land in the Same Budget

Beck also reminded the board about requests for additional staff from the Sheriff’s Office, Maintenance and Information Services for next year’s FY2027 budget.

Those requests arrived through more than one channel. Under a separate Finance & Budget item, Beck said the committee reviewed an Information Services Growth Report from Director Curt Watkins along with a request for a new experienced employee as soon as possible. The committee asked Watkins to begin searching for a candidate, and Beck said that if one is available this fiscal year, a budget adjustment may be required.

The board packet also contains a May 29 email from Maintenance Director Phil Ernst to County Board Administrator Mike Plunkett asking to be placed on the Finance agenda to bring about a new maintenance position, noting that the Information Services department’s new position had been raised at the Coordinating Committee and pushed to the Finance meeting.

Packet worksheets titled “Montgomery County Paid Fringe” for county fiscal year 2026, which runs Dec. 1, 2025, through Nov. 30, 2026, price out what county-paid fringe adds to a salary. A correctional officer position at $63,300 carries $84,473.68 in total fringe, including $10,152.36 for basic single health insurance, $6,070.47 for IMRF (SLEP), $4,842.45 for Social Security, $61.56 for unemployment and $46.84 for workers’ compensation. A second correctional sheet at $44,000 totals $51,679.72, and an administrative sheet at $50,000 totals $68,870.92. The minutes do not tie those worksheets to any particular request.

In routine business under the consent agenda, Lohman told the board property tax bills are in the mail. The county’s own 2025 tax bills appear elsewhere in the packet: two parcels at 127 N. Main carry combined 2025 taxes of $5,884.28, payable in installments due July 10 and Sept. 4, 2026.

The board’s next regular meeting is set for Tuesday, July 14, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. in the County Board Room in Hillsboro.