Sugar Grove workers start furloughs

SUGAR GROVE -- In an effort to shave about $16,000 off its six-figure budget deficit, Sugar Grove will start unpaid furloughs for 24 of the village's employees.

The first day of the furloughs will be Nov. 11. The furloughs will not involve police patrol officers, although the police offices will be closed, Village Administrator Brent Eichelberger said Thursday.

Eichelberger expects the furloughs to save the village about $5,000 a day.

This, combined with one employee who offered to work reduced hours, will leave the village with a deficit of about $98,000.

"The latest numbers before that are about $115,000," Eichelberger said.

The furlough days announced this week are Nov. 11 and Jan. 18, 2010. The latter date is Martin Luther King Day, a day village offices are closed anyway. But the employees won't be paid for the holiday.

Furlough days can also be used during the week between Christmas and New Year's, although employees can use vacation days during this time if they choose. The Village Board has also asked someone to be on duty to answer the village phones during that time, but village offices won't be open for walk-ins.

"The (Dec.) 28th through the 31st is still a hybrid thing," Eichelberger said. "We're still working out the details."

All in all, the village works on a budget of about $4 million, he said. Before the financial crisis, it had been around $5 million a year.

But budgets can turn on a dime.

"It should be noted that the projected deficit can change at any time. A change in state shared revenues, reductions in utility taxes or a bad winter are examples of items beyond the village's control that could have a major impact on the budget," Finance Director Jason VanVooren said in a press release.

Recently, the village got $135,000 less than expected from state shared revenues, Eichelberger said.

Figures on the sales tax revenue jump the village expects from the summer's Solheim Cup golf tournament are not yet available, but could be a boon, he said.