Illinois AG opinions say counties must fund VAC offices; St. Clair's 2026 levy instead pays $120,000 on county obligations, with 2027 rent set at $100,000.
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The St. Clair County Veterans Assistance Commission budgeted $120,000 of its 2026 tax levy for expenses that Illinois statute assigns to the county general fund, according to a notice reviewing the commission's budget and prior Attorney General opinions. The total comes to nearly 11% of the VAC's spending plan for the year.
Rent is the largest piece: $66,000 for the office, including computers and telephone service. "Unlawful expenses" is the notice's label for that block. State law puts the county, not the levy, behind the VAC's operating costs.
A separate $54,000 is set aside for legal services the State's Attorney's office, already on the county payroll, could provide at no cost to the commission. The levy is a dedicated property-tax stream for veteran assistance; the general fund is the county's separate operating budget.
The commission's superintendent, a post paid more than $143,000 a year, administers the budget. The notice singles out that office, saying the superintendent "should know better and needs to fix this."
The 2027 projection is worse. The commission sees rent rising $78,000 to $100,000 for the renovated building, and the local newspaper reported the same $100,000 rent line in the 2027 budget. At that level, rent alone would consume nearly 18% of the VAC's budget, assuming every other line holds flat.
Illinois has been here before. LaSalle and Winnebago counties faced the same question, and the Attorney General's Opinions Bureau answered with informal opinions I-24-008 and I-24-009; I-16-002 is an earlier opinion reaching the same conclusion. The bureau issues informal opinions as statutory guidance for public bodies; unlike formal opinions, they bind no one on their own. They do lay out the reading the notice applies here: the county provides the VAC's office and equipment from the general fund, not from the levy. The county board controls the general fund, and the lines can move in the next budget the board adopts.
Direct help for veterans is the levy's purpose. Each dollar spent on rent or legal fees is a dollar not spent on a veteran's rent or medical bills. Moving the lines to the general fund would restore the full $120,000 to that mission this year. The rent and legal lines put county obligations ahead of assistance.
The notice urges St. Clair County veterans and VAC commissioners to demand that the State's Attorney help the superintendent and the county board move the payments from the levy to the general fund.
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