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player ready...Franklin Park officials on July 16 approved a balanced budget and a tax incentive for an industrial facility expected to bring 100 jobs to the village.
Both measures passed unanimously as part of the village board’s consent agenda vote.
Prior to the budget approval, Franklin Park Comptroller David Gonzalez gave an overview of the spending plan for 2018-19.
“The budget’s in balance; we’re looking at having a little bit of excess in the general fund,” he said.
Franklin Park anticipates spending about $28.8 million in 2018-2019 from the general fund and bringing in about $28.9 million in revenue to that fund, according to Gonzalez. In the previous fiscal year, the village budgeted roughly $27.1 million in revenue and $28.5 million in expenditures for the general fund, which is used for daily operating expenses.
The village is projected to end the fiscal year with about $7.4 million in the general fund, which translates to more than three months of reserves, Gonzalez told the board.
Included in the budget is $4.2 million in water and sewer work for improvements in the Reuters subdivision.
That project saw progress on multiple fronts at the July 16 meeting, as the village approved $378,000 in financial assistance for the work in the form of an intergovernmental agreement with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. The village also awarded about $3.2 million in work on the subdivision to low-bidder J. Congdon Sewer Service Inc.
Additionally, Smith LaSalle Inc. was granted engineering services on the project totaling no more than $250,000, according to Village Engineer David Talbott. The approvals were all part of the consent agenda vote.
The 2018-19 fiscal year began May 1, but Gonzalez said it is typical for the village to approve the budget a few months into the year so it can get a better sense of the previous year’s unaudited final numbers and more accurately gauge spending.
The total budget accounts for about $60.7 million in revenue and about $59.7 million in expenditures, according to village documents.
A hearing on the budget before the board’s vote yielded no public comments.
Also at the meeting, Franklin Park officials voted to support a Class 6B tax incentive application by Crow Holdings Industrial for construction of a roughly $14.8 million facility on Charles Street.
The incentive allows qualifying properties to be assessed at 10 percent of market value for the first 10 years after the project is completed. In the 11th year, the amount increases to 15 percent, and in the 12th year it jumps to 20 percent. Industrial real estate is normally assessed at 25 percent of its market value.
The more than 113,700-square-foot development at 3311-3333 Charles St. is expected to generate about $6.1 million for taxing bodies over the course of the incentive’s 12-year lifespan, according to village planner Nick Walny. Even with the incentive, that’s about $2.9 million more in taxes than would be generated by the existing vacant structure, said John Schneider, director of community development and zoning.
The speculative facility, which Schneider said will likely house distribution or manufacturing operations, will create 75 full-time, 25 part-time and 30 temporary construction jobs, according to Walny. A sign on the building will promote Franklin Park where the property abuts the tollway, and the developer will put in ponds and landscaping at the site, according to Schneider, as well as improve Charles Street north of Belmont Avenue.
“In a nutshell, this is a benefit for the village no matter how you look at it,” Crow Holdings attorney Robert Martwick told the board.
The developer expects to demolish the existing structure in mid-August, and the new facility is scheduled for completion by May 2019.