Tomorrow, May 1, signifies the beginning of a new budget year for the village of River Forest. I am proud to announce that our budget, which was adopted Monday night, is once again balanced — a designation we have maintained for the past 13 years.
Our award-winning budget document (available at //vrf.us/finance) is packed with useful information and resources on village projects, priorities and financial trends.
I want to highlight page 182, which shows the village’s property tax rate has actually decreased over the past 10 years. No easy task! This demonstrates that our village board takes its guiding principles seriously, especially when seeking to stabilize our property taxes.
Although the cost of providing high-level services keeps rising, I am proud to see this goal continues to be achieved, which makes our village one of the more highly desirable communities around Chicagoland.
That’s our second guiding principle: strengthening our property values through high customer service. You can look around town and see your tax dollars hard at work. Throughout the village, our crews are repairing curbs, resurfacing roads and replacing sidewalk ramps. Although construction season can be messy (please pardon our dust), we start early to get competitive pricing and ensure our projects are complete before summer begins.
Aside from the construction you see, you may have noticed the installation of skinny orange or yellow cones, called delineators, along our major streets. These are strategically placed to help calm traffic patterns, particularly where excessive speeding or traffic accidents have been common. This decision was the result of thoughtful discussions by the village board and the Traffic & Safety Commission in response to public concerns. Speeding has decreased along these streets, making our community safer for our pedestrians and drivers.
Top-notch services from the village, and our ongoing priority to ensure River Forest is as safe as possible, is why we have attracted or retained small businesses such as Hub Kitchen, Black Fodder Coffee, and MJ Floral Design. We’ve also been able to attract national brands such as CAVA, J Crew Factory and First Watch Restaurant — all of which contribute to our overall vibrancy.
I am excited to keep this positive momentum going.
Cathy Adduci
Village president, River Forest