Oak Park is closing in on adopting its 2010 village government budget, which will include fewer jobs than last year but a slight property tax increase.
The village board met Monday for a public hearing and a chance for trustees to voice their concerns about the proposed 2010 budget. Trustees gave their thoughts on things that could be trimmed, while a public hearing also gave members of the public a chance to speak up on the proposed budget.
Sara Faust, president of the Oak Park Development Corporation, urged the village not to cut funding to her organization by 10 percent next year.
“Further hampering our efforts seems counterproductive,” Faust told trustees.
OPDC, a nonprofit that provides financial benefits for businesses in Oak Park, receives about 60 percent of its funding from the village. The village is planning to drop its contribution from $382,000 this year to $344,000 next year. Other nonprofits that receive village funding – such as the Oak Park Area Arts Council, Oak Park Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Oak Park Regional Housing Center – are also slated to receive 10 percent cuts, which those organizations have also seen over the past few years.
After the meeting, Village Manager Tom Barwin said all village “partners” are expected to shoulder the same burden and will be unlikely to see the cuts restored at this point.
A representative from a large union at village hall encouraged trustees to avoid further layoffs, as members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers are prepared to take unpaid furlough days to save the jobs of their members.
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Karl Sarpolis, business rep for the second largest union at village hall, said they have seen their membership drop from 88 to 83 in Oak Park because of layoffs. He urged the village to accept the furloughs and to rehire those five employees.
But members of the village board’s finance subcommittee said they looked to avoid remedies such as furloughs, which trustees said would be just a “drop in the bucket” in addressing some of Oak Park’s budget concerns. Trustees said they were looking to “right size” village hall to serve residents in the most efficient manner possible.
District 200 board member Sharon Patchak-Layman also asked the village to clarify its TIF (tax-increment financing) budget for 2010 and how much village hall plans to distribute to Oak Park’s two school districts next year.
Trustees also brought their own concerns to the meeting Monday.
Board members urged removing a $75,000 line item for improvements to the village’s Web site next year. President David Pope suggested that some of that money be used to start publishing the village’s newsletter 12 times a year instead of the current six, but the idea didn’t gain enough support from the board.
The board also asked staff to provide a detailed accounting of what Oak Park is budgeting to spend on consultants, so trustees can figure out what is absolutely necessary to spend next year.
Other suggestions offered by the board included decreasing spending for conferences and training, bank fees and possibly software upgrades. Trustee Ray Johnson also urged village staff to scale back its projections for real estate transfer and sales taxes, as well as revenues from business licenses. Johnson believes that staff is being overly optimistic in estimating that those revenues will increase next year and wants a detailed explanation of how staff calculated those numbers.
The village budget also includes a planned 2.1 percent increase to the village and library’s share of property taxes. Chief Financial Officer Craig Lesner said it’s too early to say how that increase will affect the average taxpayer, as he still needs to see how the other taxing bodies change their portion of the property tax pie.
Oak Park was facing a roughly $1.7 million deficit in 2010, Barwin said earlier this month, but village hall has laid off 20 or so employees this year to help bridge that gap.
The board will meet again to discuss the budget on Nov. 9, and trustees hope to adopt it at the Nov. 16 meeting.
CONTACT: mstempniak@wjinc.com