The proposed 2016 budget that Wilmette Park District commissioners are expected to take a final look at during their scheduled Dec. 9 committee of the whole session shows $26.6 million in total revenue, a projected $25.4 million in overall spending and the expectation of ending the year with slightly less than $1.2 million in overall surplus revenue, officials said.
Both spending and revenue estimates are “pretty consistent” with what the district actually expects to take in and to spend before the end of the 2015 fiscal year, Finance Superintendent Ken Eppelheimer said.
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Spending next year will be down slightly from the $26.3 million that district officials believe will be spent by the end of the 2015 fiscal year, according to district data.
Revenue also will drop only slightly, from the $27.1 million officials expect to generate through the end of 2015 from taxes, fees, bond sales and other income sources, Eppelheimer and district Executive Director Steve Wilson told commissioners in their budget message.
Slightly more than $8 million of 2016’s projected revenue will come from property taxes, while almost $11 million will be generated by fees, another $2.3 million by memberships and more than $2 million in rental income, officials said. The district also plans to take in $960,000 in bond revenue, the budget shows.
Spending will include $19.27 million in operating expenses, more than $12.7 million of which would be salaries and benefits, according to the park district.
Although operational spending next year is set to be $6.2 million less than operational revenue, most of that surplus will be used to cover the slightly more than $3 million in debt service, and to contribute to the district’s $3.1 million capital spending plan, Eppelheimer said.
The remaining operational surplus will combine with the $960,000 in projected bond proceeds and $120,000 in capital reimbursements to comprise the $1.2 million overall surplus, Eppelheimer said.
Commissioner Bryan Abbott, who chairs the board’s financial planning committee, said that capital spending will continue to be an important segment of the budget.
Abbott said budget planning for 2016 proceeded at least in part out of the failure last April to get taxpayer approval to issue $14.5 million in bonds, which would have paid for an extensive set construction and rehabilitation projects for Gillson and Langdon parks.
“We have to anticipate how to maintain facilities, including the lakefront, after that,” he said. “We have to anticipate how expensive that might be and how we might pay for what we do.”
Abbott said that in addition to trying to figure out new capital plans for that maintenance, the board is also focusing on building reserves, “slowly, not making a lot of sudden moves to do so, but in a way that allows us to continue to maintain our facilities.”
He said this year’s budget considerations included discussions among commissioners last month on how best to handle the maintenance and repair cycle for district playgrounds.
“Generally the district’s tried to replace playgrounds every 20 years or so, but in actual practice that doesn’t always happen,” he said. “They’re some of the most heavily used properties in the district. Capital (spending) is one of the few ways we have to move the budget needle, but we don’t want to let facilities degrade.”
Abbott said the district is seeking to thread the needle in terms of fiscal planning.
“I think, in general, it means we have to run a very tight ship, and the goal is always to try to do better,” he said.
After commissioners review the proposal and the appropriations ordinance on Dec. 9, both will come back to them Jan. 11, when the board holds the budget hearing and takes a final vote, Eppelheimer said.
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