DeKalb County could have $2M reserved for highway improvements by year’s end

If the DeKalb County Board executive committee approves a draft agenda for the board’s Nov. 19 meeting on Wednesday night, two resolutions that help the county fund road projects will be up for a vote.

DeKalb County Engineer Nathan Schwartz said one of those resolutions is being considered so that the public can more readily see how much money DeKalb County is keeping in its Federal Highway Matching Tax Fund. That balance, used for local road projects, is estimated to be about $2.7 on Dec. 31, according to a county document.

“The purpose of this resolution is to help be more transparent,” Schwartz said. “It provides the public with how much money is allocated for each project out of this particular fund.”

The Federal Highway Matching Tax Fund is used to match federal and state spending on county highway improvements. Those projects include roadway improvements, road widenings, bridge replacements, seal coating and more, documents show.

The Federal Highway Matching Tax Fund is supplied by money collected from the county’s property tax levy, according to county documents. Schwartz said the county, several years ago, began passing an annual resolution that shows how much money is being kept in the fund.

He said the fund needs to keep a sizable balance so that the county is ready to pay (match) the Illinois Department of Transportation for previous projects, while saving for future large projects.

In fiscal 2026, DeKalb County plans to spend $390,000 from the highway matching fund toward a roundabout for the intersection of Plank and Lindgren roads, documents show.

The other resolution that could advance from committee to the DeKalb County Board on Wednesday would greenlight $2.2 million in motor fuel tax revenue to pay for the maintenance of county highways and other related funds.

Of that total, $779,650 is expected to go toward salaries, while $600,000 would be spent on salt for winter road maintenance, documents show.

Schwartz said those two resolutions are typical for this time of year, and are an opportunity for the public to understand how their taxes are spent.

“I think the highway department does a very good job,” Schwartz said. “There’s a very sound reason for everything we do, and this provides us an opportunity to share with the public why we do what we do.”

This is how DeKalb County has used, and plans to use, the Federal Highway Matching Tax Fund to pay for highway projects: