This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Trustees Begin Long Budget Debate

Staff starts the process to outline $39.8 million village budget for next fiscal year.

The Glen Ellyn Village Board of Trustees began the long process of reviewing the next village budget with a marathon meeting Monday night.

For four hours, the trustees listened as village staff painted a broad-stroke picture of a budget for the May 1, 2011-April 30, 2012 fiscal year.

Monday night’s meeting was the first of five slated for the next six weeks. The board is expected to approve the $39.8 million budget April 25.

Find out what's happening in Glen Ellynwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Interim Finance Director Larry Noller said the 2011-2012 budget shows an increase in revenue of $83,000.

“It doesn’t look like a lot, but a surplus of any size is good because we have been forced to use cash reserves over the past decade,” Noller said.

Find out what's happening in Glen Ellynwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Noller said 73 percent of the overall budget, or $29.2 million, funds the village’s operating expenses, which is a 1.4 percent increase over the previous budget. However, Noller said there are several vacancies in village departments and there are currently no plans to fill them. Over the past three years he said village staff was reduced by 13 percent.

While the national economy has affected revenues over the past several years, Noller said there are improvements. He said new revenues from ambulance services, home rule sales tax and fire special service areas have had a positive impact on the budget.

“Without the impact from these revenue streams we would be about $800,000 below 2008 revenue levels,” Noller said.

Monday’s focus was on the village's general fund, which includes money for the police, volunteer fire, finance and public works departments and village administration.

One addition to the general fund for 2011-2012 is the special programs fund. Currently the fund, which is valued at $730,000, has stood on its own. However the new plan, which includes economic development, historic preservation and senior services, is to add these expenditures to the general fund.

Some budget highlights include:

  • $750,000 for the volunteer fire company, which includes maintenance of fire company vehicles, equipment purchases and communication expenses;
  • $160,000 for a program to handle the Emerald Ash Borer;
  • $28,000 for a tree removal and planting program;
  • $3,000 for facilities and maintenance crews, in connection with the crews' new responsibilities of maintaining outdoor electrical services;
  • Rolling $25,000 for Glen Ellyn Family Counseling funds into the police department's budget;
  • Budget for the police department reflects four vacancies in the department;
  • $21,000 for analysis of a Tax Increment Financed District; and
  • $118,000 for senior services.

Interim Village Manager Terry Burghard stressed the importance of economic development, which falls under the purview of the village planning and development department. He said economic development is important to the growth of the village. While the budget is tight, Burghard said it is important to prioritize and fund the economic development projects that will have the greatest potential for the village, such as the TIF analysis. He said the village qualifies for a TIF district and it is important to seize upon the opportunity and show “the village is committed to the downtown.”

While it was a night for the department heads to present their budget proposals, it was also a night for some organizations to plea for extra funding. Neil Dishman, president of Glen Ellyn Economic Development Corporation, said the proposed $70,000 budget for EDC would drastically impact the organization’s ability to attract business. He said if a minimum of an extra $50,000 is not allocated to the EDC and the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance, it will “seriously cripple our efforts to attract businesses.”

Trustee Carl Henninger said he was concerned the EDC seems “top-heavy” in administrative costs. He said various village departments have had to make cuts in employment and believed the taxpayers would not like to see allocations to support positions in non-profit organizations.

Village President Mark Pfefferman said Monday night’s meeting was all about fact finding, and that there is still time for the budget to change before it is finally approved.

“There is plenty of time to comment on this… your opinions are still welcome and keep them coming,” Pfefferman said.

The next budget meeting, which will focus on other funds including the water and sewer fund, is set for 6 p.m. March 21 at Village Hall.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?