Council looks for ways to trim 2010 budget
After months of formulating a long-term financial plan for the village, the Downers Grove Village Council Nov. 3 began a formal examination of the fiscal year 2010 budget.
The early diagnosis is that the patient needs surgery -- and it's not elective.
"We can't be all things to all people," Mayor Ron Sandack said in endorsing a budget proposal that calls for expense reductions of $2 million and revenue enhancements of about $1.5 million.
The public hearing, held immediately after the regular Village Council meeting, came after several meetings gathering input from residents and is only the beginning of the process that will include adopting a village property tax levy by the end of December.
Facing a revenue shortfall of $4.5 million, village staff prepared a budget with a number of cuts in spending. Among them are:
• Eliminating 25 full-time equivalent staff positions ($952,000).
• Changing the village insurance plan to one with a higher deductible ($450,000).
• Reducing the contribution the village makes to the taxi-subsidy program by making it a 50 percent subsidy, instead of 70 percent ($50,000).
• Reducing expenditures for the Heritage Fest ($65,000).
• Eliminating the Community Grants Program ($72,000).
• Eliminating two village police officers ($130,000).
• Making reductions in the Department of Counseling and Social Services ($158,000).
Revenue enhancements are:
• Increasing the real estate property tax by $500,000, meaning a $20 per year hike for owners of a home worth $300,000.
• Raising the home rule sales tax from .75 percent to 1.0 percent. Estimates are that the increase would produce approximately $1 million annually.
• Dipping into village reserves for $1 million.
During the regular council meeting, residents protested proposed cuts in services.
Greg Stolzer, a school counselor in District 99, asked the board to reconsider the cuts in the social service program, stressing the "importance of the office for the residents of the community" and noting that it is the school district's main referral for low-income families.
Greg Hose was concerned about cuts to the taxi subsidies and asked the board to consider a lower subsidy but still allowing seniors to purchase 100 coupons per month.
Tami Karam said that even though her business benefited from the Heritage Fest, she was in favor of making it smaller if it would stave off other cuts.
Village commissioners had their say.
Bruce Beckman said he endorsed most of the cuts, but had a problem with cutting the social services, noting that the entire community used the office.
"We need to continue to support this effort," he said.
Geoff Neustadt reminded the audience that the proposal for the taxi program was a modification, not elimination. He also broached the possibility of a 1 percent liquor tax, which he estimated would produce over $300,000 annually.
William Waldack said there was "not a lot of empathy in this budget." Of the cuts in the taxi subsidy, he said "it's really public transportation" and noted that keeping the subsidy at its current level would only cost the average taxpayer about $2 per year.
But Bob Barnett didn't feel the cuts went far enough. He was in favor of completely eliminating support for community events and looking at ways to reduce further the taxi subsidies.
"We're defined in Downers Grove by our core services," he said.
Sandack called for realism toward what the village could afford and said that with 75 percent of the village's budget going to personnel costs, core services were going to become even more expensive in the future.
"To continue the same way will only compound the problem," he said, noting the village had a structural imbalance in its finances. "We need to right-size this organization while we have a chance."
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