Rising salaries and purchase costs, and the payment of existing debts, will prompt Buffalo Grove’s Village Hall to spend more in 2016 than in years past.
Residents will fund this through increases in everything from property taxes to parking fees, officials say.
The Village Board approved next year’s budget on Dec. 7. It calls for total expenses of $79 million, which would be a relatively small increase from the estimated real expenses of $77.8 million this year, but a more notable mark-up from the final total of $70.8 million in 2014.
The 2016 spending plan includes personnel cuts. Village Hall has been trimming its staff annually since 2010. But it also includes a 3.2 percent increase in the property tax levy, the foremost of several rising fees. After the meeting, Village President Beverly Sussman — who had just completed her first budget cycle in the top office — said taking more from the public was a tough choice to make.
“It’s very difficult, it’s very difficult,” Sussman said. “Providing services for our residents, very important. We have to do what we have to do.”
The board approved the tax hike with some trepidation — but with a unanimous vote. The trustees and their staff appeared cautious with their words, strongly favoring terms like “change” and avoiding “increase.”
“The magnitude of the change, on its face, can make people uneasy,” board member Jeff Berman said. “And it certainly does me.”
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The 381-page document, available on the Village Hall website, is detailed with graphs and explanations of past decisions and future probabilities. Among its features:
* The 2016 income for the operations budget is projected to rise by $1.8 million to $41.7 million.
* $1.2 million of that extra revenue should come from the creation of a storm water utility fee, which is scheduled to be used in January for drainage facility maintenance and replacements. Single-family residences will pay $5.08 per month; other parcels will pay based on lot size.
* On Jan. 1, the water and sanitary sewer rate will increase by 21 cents, to $5.69 per 1,000 gallons.
Village Hall moved to keep all its budgeted equalized. An increase in parking fees at the Metra parking lot along Deerfield Parkway is now pending Metra’s approval. This reasoning kept the authorities close to their projections in 2015: barring a calamity in the year’s final days, Buffalo Grove’s actual expenses for this year will be 0.6 percent above budget. The problem, according to a report from village manager Dane Bragg, was an unexpected need to replace the dome of the road salt storage building.
In a separate vote that took place before the budget, the trustees also approved a 3.2 percent increase of their 2015 property tax levy, which owners will pay in 2016. The raise should generate $480,000 in new revenue, bringing Buffalo Grove’s take on property taxes to $15.4 million.
Portions of that fund go in the police and fire department’s budgets, both of which are climbing by about $350,000 in 2016.
“I never like having to raise anything,” Sussman said. “But, you know what? The village has to survive.”
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