Deerfield taxpayers may see a bump in their village taxes if trustees decide to borrow $10 million to help pay for capital projects over the next three years.
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Nothing has yet been decided; a recent budget workshop that ran three hours will reconvene Thursday. Village staff members presented a proposed $53.6 million spending plan for 2015, a budget that would represent a tax levy increase of about 3 percent for Deerfield residents.
That village levy increase amounts to $14 more per year on a $500,000 home, said Andrew Lichterman, assistant to the village manager.
But that proposed budget would not address a shortfall of almost $20 million needed to address infrastructure needs — roads and sewer improvements mostly — over the next three years, officials said.
Combined with other measures, such as transferring the general fund levy of $2.2 million in to the infrastructure replacement fund, the proposed $10 million bond issue would help cover the cost of those long-term capital projects.
It would also mean a larger increase in village taxes. Under that scenario, the village would no longer abate debt service payments unrelated to the waste treatment facility as it has in the past, Lichterman said.
Without the abatement, a $500,000 home would see a tax increase of about $100 per year, beginning in 2015, Lichterman said. Then, in 2016, the bond issue debt would mean an increase of another $100 on a home of the same value.
At the recent Deerfield Village Board budget meeting, trustees appeared open to further considering the bond issue.
“We need to do something to catch up to it,” Trustee Barbara Struthers said. “If we’re talking $10 million, is that even enough?”
Some of the more significant capital projects have been languishing on the to-do list for years, Lichterman said. The Deerfield Road project and the Kates Road bridge project, for example, have been delayed to secure the necessary federal funding to offset village costs.
The village board will vote on the 2015 budget and the tax levy in November.
According to memo prepared by Finance Director Eric Burk, the village’s general fund balance is projected to finish 2014 with a $1.1 million increase – a rosier outlook than the budgeted $2.3 million reduction.
Some increases in spending are unavoidable, village staff said.
For example, the village has had to ramp up the removal of ash trees infested with emerald ash borer, a beetle that has plagued ash trees across the Midwest, said Bob Phillips, assistant director of public works and engineering.
The proposed budget has $150,000 for tree and stump removal to remove the remaining ash trees from the village parkways and another $50,000 for replanting trees, Phillips said.
The total police department spending is budgeted to increase 2.97 percent, said Police Chief John Sliozis. That increase is a result of several items, he said, such as updating software used to recoup information from cell phones, new camera equipment for interrogations and salary increases for police officers.
Responding to a trustee’s inquiry, Sliozis said he didn’t feel the staffing levels could be cut. At times, there are only three police officers on duty at night, he said.
“We can only reduce these numbers so low and ensure officer safety and the level of service the public has come to expect,” Sliozis said.
As he did last year, Trustee Tom Jester argued for debt payments for capital projects to be presented separately within the budget, instead of mixing them with operating expenses. As one example, a debt service payment is currently in the sewer fund.
Separating out the capital and operating expenses would be more “intellectually honest,” Jester said.
Lichterman said that was a “philosophical question” that would need to be addressed by the board.
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