Oak Park leaders are looking for solutions to make sure that the village has a way to pay for its sustainability programs.
Oak Park’s sustainability fund, which has covered costs for the village’s environmental programing since 2009, doesn’t have the revenue to keep up with its current expenses. The fund’s expenses have outpaced its revenue significantly in recent years, with the fund running an annual deficit of roughly $1.5 million.
Oak Park’s village board held a study session last week on possible remedies to the funding issues. Without new revenue, the fund is projected to run out of money by the end of 2027, according to village staff.
In 2025, the fund’s largest expenses were $400,000 for village sustainability personnel’s salaries, $500,000 to support the energy navigator program and $750,000 for funding to the village’s residential energy grant programs, according to village staff.
To lessen the burden on the fund, the village will begin paying sustainability staff salaries using general funds. But greater annual investments from the village’s sustainability fund could also be a part of addressing the revenue gap.
In a memo to the board, Trustee Derek Eder called for more than a $1 million in annual investments from Oak Park’s general fund for the energy loan program in order to stabilize the fund while keeping pace with village energy goals.
“The general fund is one of the more equitable ways we can pay for this right, as opposed to applying fees,” Eder said.
If the sustainability revenue fund carries a negative balance for longer than two years, it would have to be rolled into Oak Park’s general fund anyway, according to Finance Director Kevin Bueso.
“If the village board is saying this is a core service, then it needs to be funded the way that other core services are funded, just like any other department or operating department,” Bueso said. “We cannot carry a negative fund balance in the special revenue funds continuously for longer than two fiscal years.”
These financial questions for the sustainability fund come after Oak Park has committed itself to an ambitious set of climate policy goals, headlined by a commitment to slashing local greenhouse gas emissions by 60% before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
One other measure to address the funding gap that board members discussed was the possibility of raising the village’s tax on single-use plastic grocery bags, which has existed since 2018.
Oak Park’s sustainability fund received $175,890 from the village’s 10 cent bag fee last year. If the village had raised its tax to 15 cents per bag to match the City of Chicago’s rate, it would have brought in roughly $80,000 more for the sustainability fund.
Oak Park’s volunteer Environment and Energy Commission recently recommended that the village raise its bag fee. Trustee Brian Straw said the village could raise its bag tax even higher than Chicago’s as Oak Park works to discourage single-use shopping bags altogether.
“I’m definitely interested in increasing the retail plastic bag fee,” Straw said. “I’d be willing to go a little higher, faster. Because I think, you know, 20 cents, as opposed to 15 cents, will generate a little bit more revenue. As we continue stair-stepping, it will decrease usage until we get to the point of elimination.”
But other board members were anxious about the impact that higher bag fees could have on low-income residents and visitors shopping in Oak Park.
“When people are trying to afford to buy bread, they’re not thinking about whether or not the rain forest is going to survive,” Trustee Cory Wesley said. “When I think about matching Chicago, I’m thinking that we probably getmore people shopping from Chicago because we’re not matching Chicago on the bag tax, and I kind of like that. So this one’s challenging for me.”
How the fund balance is addressed, whether it’s through general fund investment, fee increases or other remedies, will continue to be a topic for discussion for village leaders in the coming months. A schedule of meetings for the village board’s finance committee will soon be released, Village Manager Kevin Jackson said.
“I think during the finance committee meetings, we’ll look to provide a lot more information on this,” Jackson said. “I do think we need to really talk with you guys about a common definition for what is considered a core service. And I think even within that definition, what are we legally obligated to provide versus what are we choosing to provide as a core service and what are things that are just added on based upon our goals that we’re trying to pursue.”