A group of Maine East High School seniors got a chance to see what it’s like to be Niles mayor, trustees and village staff members during the Niles Local Government Day.
The event, which ran the morning of April 9, was a collaboration between Maine East Social Studies Department, the Niles Teen Center and the village of Niles officials. Eighty seniors from U.S. Government classes met with staff from all village departments and took part in a mock budget meeting. Their goal – try to figure out how to deal with a $1.5 million budget deficit that Niles may face if Governor Bruce Rauner’s cuts to income tax revenue are approved.
U.S. Government teacher Jennifer Conlon told Niles Herald-Spectator that that the school and City of Des Plaines government collaborated on a similar exercise for a number of years. The school first tried doing an event with the village of Niles last fall. Conlon explained that the organizers received plenty of feedback, and when it came time to plan the spring National Government Day, several aspects of the exercise were adjusted accordingly.
Niles Teen Center Director Mark Williams explained that exercise was designed to give students a hands-on lesson how the local government operates. Incorporating the real-life budget struggles would raise the stakes for students.
“The proposed budget cut will create a wonderful real-life learning experience for these students as they help to make the tough choices that face our community and our state,” Williams said.
Maine East students arrived at the Niles Village Hall at 8 a.m., where they were welcomed by Mayor Andrew Przybylo. Willams gave the students a rundown of how the village government worked and how tax revenue was used in its budget.
The students then broke up into several groups. One group prepared to play village trustees and the mayor. One group prepared play the public. The remaining groups would play the staff of different village departments. Each group met with the head of the corresponding department and what the department does, what budget it has and how it spends its money. They then used that information to come up with proposal for how the village could cut spending, raise revenue or some combination of both to make up for the deficit.
The students received a handout that gave some suggestions. It included requiring residents to pay fares on the Niles Free Bus system, raising property and/or sales taxes, reducing services and drawing upon village reserves.
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The students were split into groups based on their interests before the exercise, Conlon said.
After an hour and a half of research and preparation, the students gathered in the main Village Board meeting room to hold the mock budget meeting.
Kevin Talia, Eric Ponzetti, Michel Kasprzyk, Antony Rosa, Damien Masha-Smith and Robinson Michel acted as trustees. Anthony Calderone acted as mayor. Maine East Social Science Department Chair Earl Brownell took the seat normally occupied by the village attorney, occasionally offering advice to the mock board.
The group acting as Niles Fitness Center staff proposed raising fees for residents and non-residents by 10 and then 15 percent. Family Services group proposed raising the property tax by one percent. Senior Center group said they would use fundraisers to make up cuts to their budget.
Department of Public Services groups proposed adding fares for Niles Free Buses, with fares scaled based on income. They also proposed raising property taxes and the village’s gasoline tax. They argued that, because many residents don’t know gasoline tax exists, raising it won’t inspire the kind of public backlash that property or sales tax increases would.
Fire Department group called for raising the sales tax and charging 25-cent fares for Niles Free Bus. IT Department group said they would postpone their projects for a year. The Community Development group said that Niles should encourage more businesses to move into the village, and proposed raising the sales tax by one percent.
But no group went as far as the General Government group, which proposed cutting the village funding to the Niles Historical Society, as well as closing down Niles Teen Center and the Department of Family Services. Group member Neha Patel argued that the Maine Township already provides services similar to Family Services, and that funding the Niles Teen Center didn’t make sense.
“Only 50 percent of teens that go to the Teen Center are from Niles,” she said.
The students who represented the public proposed that the village should bring higher-quality stores to Golf Mill Mall.
“Golf Mill has been slowly less productive over the years,” said Brammer Kyree. “We’re asking for renovations. We are asking for different food places.”
Calderone pointed that the Village Board wouldn’t be able to order a private business to do anything – though he added that he agreed that Golf Mill could use some improvements.
“I think I speak for everyone [here] – I’m sure that’s what we all want,” he said.
The mock board then discussed what it would actually do to deal with the budget shortfall. The trustees unanimously approved requiring residents to put leaves into bags that have village stickers. They also approved raising Fitness Center fees. A proposal to cut Netflix from the Senior Center, which was estimated to save the village $400 a year, ended in a deadlock, with Calderone casting the tie-breaking vote against the proposal.
The proposal to charge fares for the Niles Free bus led to the longest discussion. While Kasprzyk proposed income-based fares, Michel argued that charging fares wasn’t ultimately in the village’s best interest. He argued that sales tax was a major source of village revenue, so the village should encourage people to spend money. Having to pay fares would limit that.
After some discussion, the mock board decided to take the cue from the proposed Niles Free Bus revamp and cut the number of buses while extending service hours.
In the end, the board was able to cut the shortfall down to $1.17 million.
As the exercise ended and students prepared to leave, Williams said that he hoped they got something positive out of the experience.
“I really hope that you found this to be valuable,” he said. “This is something that a lot of us do as full-time jobs.”
Igor Studenkov is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.