Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the names of two additional finance committee members. Wednesday Journal regrets the error.
Oak Park village leaders are in the thick of budget season, but a detailed discussion on the costs of the village’s new police station and Village Hall renovations are still at least a month away.
At a meeting of the village board finance committee Sept. 25 Village Manager Kevin Jackson said, “Our goal is to come back to the village board sometime in November to talk about that project and provide some cost estimates. Obviously, this budget will need to be amended once you make some decisions on those facilities.”
While no final cost estimate for the new police building is included in the plan, the document suggests that construction is expected to begin next year.
“Current funding amounts are place holders to be further defined as part of the design process that will start in the fall of 2025 and continue into 2026,” staff wrote in the plan. “Construction is currently expected to begin on a possible first phase including construction of the police station in the 2026 construction season.”
Plans to release both costs and financing options as well as architectural drawings for the village hall campus projects have been delayed since being promised in the spring.
Meanwhile the draft of the capital improvement budget for 2026 includes spending nearly $900,000 over the next two years to replace or upgrade HVAC and electrical systems within village hall. Rob Sproule, public works director, told the finance committee that these upgrades will be necessary regardless of other renovations decided on for village hall. He said the plans have been vetted with the village’s chosen architecture firm.
“All the projects included in 2026 for the Village Hall facility are all improvements that need to be done and will be maintained through any future renovation,” Sproule said. “It’s worth putting in the improvements now.”
The finance committee includes Village President Vicki Scaman, Trustees Brian Straw, Jim Taglia, Derek Eder as well as citizen advisory members John Hedges – a former trustee,- Greg Kolar and Bridgett Allen Hedgeman. It met for the final time Sept. 25 before the entire village board reviews the village’s Capital Improvement Plan at its Oct. 7 full board meeting. The board will discuss the plan at that meeting before it is expected to adopt the CIP at the Oct. 14 meeting, said Jackson.
2026 budget discussions will continue at the village board table through the rest of the year, according to prospective meeting topic calendars published earlier this month.
The finance committee discussed items related to two funds, one the building improvement fund covering village-owned facilities improvements and another fund laying out budget expectations for all other projects.
The building improvement fund covered dozens of line items but laid out no cost estimates related to the planned renovation of Oak Park Village Hall and construction of a new police station on village hall’s south lawn. Jackson said the plan will need revisions once costs for those projects are discussed.
Still, the building improvement plan lays out more than 20 Village Hall improvements that would be completed before a larger renovation begins at the facility. Some of the most significant upgrades in the 2026 fund include replacing the control system for the Village Hall campus’ HVAC system, overhauling the building’s electrical system and adding an electric vehicle charging station to Village Hall’s parking lot.
That new control system, which would shift the building’s HVAC system from pneumatic controls to digital controls, is expected to cost $600,000 between 2026 and 2027, according to the plan. The new charging station is expected to cost $155,000 and the building’s electrical upgrades are expected to cost $275,000 between those two years.
Other key village facility projects in the building improvement fund include structural renovations to all three of the Oak Park Fire Department’s fire stations and extensive renovations at the village’s Public Works Center.
The Public Works Center updates include installing solar panels and a new roof compatible with the solar panels. Those upgrades combined are projected to cost the village roughly $3.8 million, according to the plan.
The village would look to have the solar renovations completed in 2027, before federal tax breaks that measure up to 30% of the village’s investment are phased out. The Public Works Center is already an all-electric building, according to the village.
“The system will significantly reduce the facility’s reliance on grid-supplied electricity, lower operational costs, and support the village’s sustainability goals,” staff wrote in the plan. “To maximize efficiency and minimize disruption, the installation will be strategically coordinated with the scheduled roof restoration project. This integrated approach ensures optimal system performance, protects roof integrity, and leverages construction timelines to reduce overall implementation costs. Once operational, the solar array is expected to generate substantial annual energy savings and contribute meaningfully to the village’s long-term climate action initiatives.”