Winnetka village trustees formally introduced their $72.4 million 2017 budget when they met Nov. 15, following a public hearing on the budget that same night that attracted no public comments.
Village Finance Director Tim Sloth said the budget includes $57.7 million in operating expenses – up just under 4 percent from budgeted expenses in 2016 – paid for by expected revenue of just over $65 million, which is just under 6 percent more than the village budgeted for this year.
The village’s general fund, which makes up the lion’s share of operational expenses and covers most daily village costs, will spend an estimated $25.4 million, and take in an estimated $25.2 in revenue, according to Sloth’s report.
“I want to thank our staff for keeping costs under control, and holding tight on property tax rates,” Trustee Penny Lanphier said after Sloth’s presentation.
Sloth said the 2017 document also includes a $12.47 million capital plan, which is up about 48 percent over this year’s costs, because of several large planned construction and renovation efforts.
He said those include up to $4.1 million for stormwater projects; $2.65 million dedicated to road, sidewalk, bridge and parking improvements; $1.4 million in water system improvements; $450,000 for downtown master plan projects; and several other capital efforts.
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Council members, who first saw a draft version of the budget in late October, will give the budget its final stamp of approval in December. On Nov. 15, they also introduced a new schedule of user fees, including a new $10 per month residential refuse fee targeted at keeping the village’s refuse services steady.
Sloth said other charge increases would hike the average homeowner’s water, electric and sanitary sewer fees by about $12.50 a month or about $120 a year, to help finance Winnetka’s infrastructure improvements. Water and electric rates will rise about 4 percent, he said, while the sanitary sewer rate will jump about 5 percent.
Between the new refuse charge and the increased utility charges, an average Winnetkan homeowner should end up paying about $271 a year more on her property tax bill, he said.
For budgeting purposes, the village assumes an average property owner with a $25,000 property tax bill, just over 13 percent of which goes to the village.
Other village fees, like the stormwater utility charge, remain flat, as will village property taxes, Sloth said, which means that the average Winnetkan property owner would continue to pay about $3,263 in property taxes. Add in the village’s user charges, its telecommunications and natural gas taxes, as well as car and dog licenses, and the theoretical homeowner’s municipal costs would rise from an estimated $7,443 a year to $7,714 a year, according to his report.
The utility fee changes were introduced separately from the budget on Nov. 15, as was the proposed $14.59 million 2016 property tax levy. The total levy is expected to rise about 1.2 percent, Sloth said. Because the village’s expected new property tax, from new property development, is also expected to be 1.2 percent more than last year’s levy, property owners won’t see hikes in their individual Winnetka tax bills, he said.
The budget council members introduced Nov. 15 is available at www.villageofwinnetka.or under the “Government” tab. Go to “Council Members,” then “Fiscal Transparency.”