Des Plaines has approved a budget that holds the line on property taxes but provides for two large projects – a pumping station pipeline and reconstructing River Road.
The 2015 budget totals $156.1 million. The plan drew no public comments before being approved by the Des Plaines City Council at a recent meeting for which Ald. Patricia Haugeberg, 1st, and Mayor Matt Bogusz were absent.
With the library portion of the tax levy taken into account, the total levy of about $29.1 million actually decreased by about .32 percent, said Dorothy Wisniewski, director of finance.
Ald. Michael Charewicz, 8th, emphasized that the levy is a relatively small portion of the total budget, which is up 9.3 percent over the current budget.
“Just as a comment, out of a $156 million budget, only $29 million comes from property taxes,” he said. “That’s just a comment because everybody always says my property taxes, my property taxes.”
The budget increase is almost exclusively in the water and sewer fund and grant projects fund, according to a memo from Wisniewski. The city plans to construct a 6,500-foot-long pipeline between its pumping station on Central Road to the Northwest Water Commission headquarters at 1525 N. Wolf Road as part of a new water deal approved this fall. The project is expected to cost between $6 million and $7 million.
The other project is a reconstruction of the flood-prone northern portion of River Road, which will be funded largely through a roughly $11 million state grant, Wisniewski said. The remaining costs will be covered by gaming tax revenue generated by Rivers Casino, which she said is typically used to cover capital projects.
The city also expects to pay a total of $5.3 million in debt service over the coming year, with about $110,000 of that funded through the 2014 tax levy. The remainder of the debt service expenditures will be paid out of revenue generated through the city’s tax increment financing districts and sales tax revenue, Wisniewski said.
Wisniewski said city staff was able to recommend no property tax increase by maintaining a “zero percent budget (increase) when we went into budget discussions with department heads.” All departments adhered to the goal and requested level budgets, she said. Also helping was cost cutting and more sales tax revenue, she said.
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