River Forest ended the fiscal year with higher revenues and lower expenditures than budgeted, according to the annual comprehensive financial report presented by Rosey McAdams, director of finance, and review of the annual audit by Martha Trotter of Sikich LLP, the village’s auditor.
Trotter, a certified public accountant for Sikich, said the village’s audit received a “clean unmodified opinion,” the highest possible. Sikich LLP, based in Chicago, is a global company specializing in technology-enabled professional services.
Both reports, for the fiscal year that ended April 30, were presented at the Oct. 14 village board meeting. They were accepted in a unanimous vote of the four trustees present. Lisa Gillis and Ken Johnson did not attend.
In her presentation of the financial report, McAdams noted actual revenues in the general fund exceeded budgeted amounts by $1 million or 5.63% and general fund expenditures are below the budgeted amounts at 97.16%. She explained that most revenues saw increases due to inflation and the increase in the consumer price index, and expenditures are “slightly below” the budgeted amounts due in part to personal services in both the police and fire departments coming in under budget. Personal services include step increases for employees based on contract wage scales and also include pension contributions. Actual contributions to both the police and fire pension funds were below the budgeted amounts.
Separate line items that saw increases include communications taxes, exceeding budgeted amounts by $22,618 or 12.81%; property taxes, exceeding budgeted amounts by $511,423 or 7.3%; state income taxes, exceeding budget amounts by $97,422 or 5.35%; sales taxes, exceeding budget amounts by $92,466 or 3.89%; and non-home rule sales taxes, exceeding budgeted amounts by $31,930 or 3.01%. McAdams explained that income tax revenues were higher because the FY2024 state budget included an increase to the local government distributive fund local share from 6.16% to 6.47%, increasing payments to municipalities, and higher than expected receipts.
The state budget also included reductions in the personal property replacement tax allocations, which led to revenue falling significantly below budgeted amounts. Actual revenue was $350,758, 45.97% below the budgeted amount of $649,145.
The other tax/intergovernmental line item exceeded budget amounts by $517,556 or 158.65%, primarily due to an increase in grant funding. McAdams said contributions and grants were higher than expected due to the receipt of American Rescue Plan Act funds and the recognition of some of those revenues to offset lost revenues. Grant funding was $579,465, exceeding the budgeted amount by $541,887, offsetting other components of that line item, restaurant tax, local motor fuel tax and state cannabis tax, which were all below budgeted amounts.
Investment income increased due to market fluctuations and rebounding interest rates. Charges for services, which includes refuse and ambulance fees, were below budgeted amounts although revenue from ambulance billings has increased due to the Ground Emergency Medical Transportation reimbursement program in which the village now participates.
Expenditures that are above budgeted amounts are administration, due partly to an increase in personal services due to filling vacancies; building department, due to an increase in contractual services; and E911, because the West Suburban Consolidated Dispatch Center contribution has increased due to the loss of member communities and rising operational costs. All other expenditures are lower than budgeted, McAdams noted. She said decreases are due to staff members limiting non-essential expenditures and changes in staffing that caused expenditures to be reduced.
Police department expenditures are slightly lower than budgeted amounts due to vacancies being filled with new hires who are paid at a lower rate. Public works expenditures were also slightly lower due primarily to decreases in contractual services. Salary increases were included based on the most recent collective bargaining agreement with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150.
The waterworks and sewerage fund experienced a $1.3 million increase in net position. Revenues were slightly above budgeted amounts. Water and sewer sales were just above expectations due to billed water consumption and weather conditions. Revenues include a 3.42% increase in rates in June 2023 to fund the rate increase from the City of Chicago for water and for operating and capital improvement costs. Capital outlay expenditures increased from the last fiscal year but were still under budget.
Village President Cathy Adduci said she appreciated “all the hard work by our auditor” and thanked McAdams and her financial team for doing a “great job.”
McAdams, in turn, thanked members of her “well-functioning team,” especially Matt Walsh, village administrator, and Keke Boyer, assistant finance director.