The expected hole in Naperville’s 2015-16 budget is shrinking as city officials prepare a spending plan for operations that shows a one percent increase in operating costs.
Department heads laid out the numbers for the City Council in a workshop Monday that focused on the General Fund budget, presenting a lean scenario for the upcoming fiscal year that would add three new staff positions and delay some expenditures to help contain costs. The session was one in a series of meetings that began in October and will culminate with passage in April of a spending blueprint that takes effect May 1.
City Manager Doug Krieger said the $12 million shortfall projected when the council had its fall workshop has been brought down significantly through a combination of reductions in next year’s spending plans and anticipated year-end fund balances and “excess cash” that should add up to enough to close most of the gap. This year’s revenues are tracking on target, he said, and expenditures likely will come in slightly below budgeted levels by the end of April.
A majority of the proposed $119.7 million in next year’s General Fund outlays, 72 cents of every dollar, will go to personnel costs for the dozen departments included in the fund’s yearly budget, the staff report shows.
Finance Director Rachel Mayer said the relatively low $1.2 million spending increase for the fund next year is an accomplishment, given the city’s expectation of a 6 percent rise in its health-care costs for the upcoming fiscal period. That budget consideration will be taken up in the next council workshop on March 23, which will focus on special funds and the city-run utilities.
“To only have a one percent increase from year to year I think (means) we should give the staff some credit,” Mayer said.
Costs have been pared through such measures as arranging a new lower-cost garbage hauling contract, deferring canopy tree trimming along the Riverwalk and making a $700,000 cut in the outlay for vehicle replacement.
The proposed spending plan calls for a new autmotive technician for the Public Works Department. Dick Dublinski, department director, said the new staff member will provide services for the city’s “aging fleet” in a fraction of the time now taken by outside vendors contracted to provide the service.
Shown in the Transportation, Engineering and Development Department’s requests are two additional building inspectors, needed because building activity has picked up as the economy has recovered. Department director Bill Novack said applicants now have to wait more than twice the targeted two-day turnaround for the process required before they can obtain needed city permits.
“We’re failing our customers when it comes to inspections,” Novack said.
One variable that might have significant impact on the budget is Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s state budget proposal, which could slash by half the portion of income tax revenue going to municipalities. Naperville stands to lose one of the highest sums in the state, slightly more than $7 million.
“Obviously any changes that are made down in Springfield would need to be addressed by us here locally,” Krieger said.
Loss of that income, he said, could demand aggressive action.
“Seven million dollars is a lot of money and would absolutely change the way we do things here,” Krieger said. “So we will be monitoring that very carefully.”
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Also among the challenges facing the fiscal planners in the coming few years is a trend officials have been discussing of the city’s cash assets declining over the past several years, as reserves have been used to cover operating costs in some instances when revenues have come up short. Krieger, who told the council that next year’s overall budget will be lower than the current $447 million spending plan when all of the funds are put togethers, said that issue has yet to be addressed head-on.
“This budget does not represent a long-term solution,” he said. “What it does represent is a budget that will provide us time to have thoughtful deliberation involving feedback from other stakeholders before establishing a long-term revenue and expenditure stratetgy.”
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