Krajewski Counts on Accounting Background

Brian Krajewski said he is looking forward to using his skills as a certified public accountant to be a watchdog over the finances of DuPage County.

Krajewski, a Downers Grove native, said he is excited to be serving on the DuPage County Board and will strive to make sure the county's finances remain sound and that the government will use taxpayer money as effectively as possible.

"The county is in better financial condition than the state or nation, but we can do more and can be better stewards of the people's money," Krajewski said.

While he has no specific goals as a new member of the county board, Krajewski said he plans to continue to work toward making county government more efficient, especially with a weakened economy.

"The big thing is trying to do more with less," said Krajewski, who is both an attorney and accountant. "A lot of governments seem to think the answer is raising taxes to continue operations, but that's a negative."

In November Krajewski, a former mayor of Downers Grove, won the District 3 seat on the county board by defeating  Karol Sole with 62 percent of the vote. Krajewski won a two-year term and represents the third district, which includes Downers Grove.

During the campaign, DuPage County Auditor Bob Grogan, also a resident of Downers Grove, endorsed Krajewski, calling him "an educated financial professional who will analyze and scrutinize the county budget for wasteful spending inconsistencies."

Krajewski said he hopes to see other CPAs serve in county leadership positions. One place he would like to see a CPA is the DuPage County Water Commission. A former board member, Krajewski said the water commission's misappropriation of millions of taxpayers dollars show the need for an accounting professional on the current board. He said he hopes DuPage County Chairman Dan Cronin appoints a CPA to the board with his remaining two picks.

"It's important to have engineers on the board to examine the infrastructure of the water pipelines, but a CPA is going to pay close attention to the finances," Krajewski said. "When I served on that board I paid more attention to the numbers than I did to engineering specs because that's my background."

Krajewski said he is impressed with the ways new technologies allow for streamlining. He said new computer programs allow law enforcement officers to electronically file traffic tickets, rather than hand off the paper copies to a clerk who will enter the tickets into a computer. He said that saves time and labor costs.

In addition to streamlining government, Krajewski said the need for jobs and jobs creation is still a top priority for the board. Unemployment in DuPage County is 7.7 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Krajewski said DuPage County is on a surer financial footing than most counties in Illinois. He said that gives the county an advantage when it comes to luring new businesses and industries to the county.

"We have to make DuPage County an environment that people want to come to," he said.

Krajewski said DuPage leaders should use the county's lower sales tax rate of 7.25 percent to attract businesses from Cook County, where the sales tax rate is 10.25 percent. He said businesses in Cook County are losing sales because they have to charge the county tax rate, but if moved a little farther west, their sales could improve with the lower tax rate. He said companies that deal in high-end sales items can see a significant difference in the amount of sales due to the lower taxes.

"We already see that people come out from Cook County to shop here in our retail stores just to save some money on sales taxes, so you know companies buying large volumes would rather pay DuPage sales tax rates than Cook County sales tax rates," Krajewski said.

But it takes more than a relatively low sales tax to attract businesses, Krajewski said. He said the county needs to improve infrastructure as well. He said the county needs to improve roads and public transportation systems so people can travel to and from their jobs. He said the county needs to work with PACE and the Regional Transportation Authority of Northeastern Illinois to fight with the city of Chicago for funding.

Krajewski said there are challenges facing the county, but he is confident in the stewardship of the county board.