LaSalle County finance staff told the Finance Committee on Oct. 29 that motor fuel tax funds are held in distinct accounts and that general operating funds (including funds 5, 6 and 7) are aggregated across many bank and investment accounts.

Julie (finance staff) said the county uses fund accounting to track money allocated to different purposes and that ‘‘county and township motor fuel tax . . . each have 3 bank accounts tied to their funds’’ — a checking account, an ICS account and a sweep account. She said the county’s general operating account is a conglomerate of more than 60 separate funds across multiple accounts, so ‘‘those 3 funds cannot be tied to 1 banking account.’’

Julie gave the ledger identifiers the committee requested: county motor fuel tax is fund O17; township motor fuel tax and township bridge fund are 917 and 919 respectively. She also gave balances as of the prior day: county motor fuel tax (fund O17) $5,268,154.01 and township portion about $5,000,639.

Committee members asked how interest on the accounts is handled. Julie said interest earned on township funds ‘‘stays with them’’; finance staff later added that taxing bodies receive their share of interest and that outside auditors review the funds. Julie told the committee she reconciles each bank account separately and that the totals of the related bank accounts reconcile to the fund balances on the county’s CIC fund status report.

Why it matters: the committee sought this detail while finalizing the draft budget and levy because some members had been unclear whether motor fuel tax receipts were commingled with the general operating account. The staff clarification shows motor fuel tax funds are segregated and reconciled across multiple bank instruments, while many general operating funds are pooled across accounts.