The Niles Village Board approved a budget of $85.8 million for the coming year that includes $1 million earmarked for improvements to Village Hall, $200,000 for improvements to one of the village fire stations and significant bumps in spending on police and fire.
Overall, the operating budget proposed for fiscal 2024, which began May 1, 2023, represents a 2% increase over the spending plan for the preceding year, according to the village budget book at https://village-niles-il-budget-book.cleargov.com/9918/budget-overview/executive-overview
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, though it should be noted that residents will also be paying an estimated average of $200 more annually for garbage fees, which they have not done in the past.Trustees voted unanimously for the plan at their April 25 board meeting after two workshops with village staff.
The village’s waste fund budget saw a substantial decrease due to the coming switch to direct-to-customer garbage billing by garbage service provider Groot, village budget analyst Connor Schultz told trustees and department heads at an April 17 workshop.
Schultz also pointed out that non-union and part-time village employees would receive a 3.5% cost of living adjustment in their compensation, while village department heads would get a 3% bump.
The village’s police and fire pension funds are not included in the plan, Schultz reminded trustees. Two years ago, Niles trustees voted to raise the property tax levy by 88% in what they said was a move to fully fund those pension funds in accordance with state law by 2040. They have since rebated a portion of that increase.
Another significant change in the proposed fiscal 2024 budget is a large transfer from the village’s general fund, which makes up the bulk of its spending, to its risk management fund. The risk management fund pays for the village’s insurance costs and any specific claims that the village may have to pay, according to village spokesperson Mitch Johnson.
Trustee Craig Niedermaier asked village staff why this year’s transfer is about 50% higher than transfers from previous years.
Finance Director Kent Oliven said the village has kept its contributions to that fund flat for some time and that this year’s spike partially is meant to align the level of funding with the demands on the account, which needs to cover higher costs of insurance.
“We’ve settled a lot of workers’ compensation claims that [were] sitting out there; we’ve settled some general liability claims,” Oliven said.
Niedermaier cast the increase as a long-overdue piece of housekeeping left to current trustees by previous administrations.
“Everything is going up with inflation; [this is] yet another category that we can chalk up to that we weren’t doing this right or well enough for many years,” he said. “It’s not sexy… but it has to get paid for or we could take it on the chin somewhere down the road.”
The village’s general revenue, which totaled $59 million, has gone up by 19% over the preceding year’s figure, Schultz said. That is primarily due to a strong year in sales tax revenue, he said.
“Sales taxes are a really big thing here in Niles,” he said. “It’s a very large component of our revenue portfolio. And really since the pandemic, but especially in the last year… that sales tax portfolio has been performing really, really well.”
The village’s revenue from its ambulance billing fees, while much smaller than the sum brought in by sales taxes, has also leapt by 127% to a total of $5 million, Schultz said.
That money will go into everything from boosting available overtime and holiday pay for police and fire personnel by $430,000 and $450,000, respectively, to outsourcing crossing guard services for $150,000, according to the village budget book.
The village fitness center budget will increase by almost a quarter, Schultz said, primarily due to inflation pressures on electricity, gas and employees.
Upon hearing this, Niedermaier asked if the village could put solar panels on top of the fitness center and suggested that doing so might help offset the costs of energy.
The fitness center is also set to get $700,000 for remodeling the locker rooms under the village’s capital improvement plan — a separate part of the budget that deals with upgrades and changes to village infrastructure and equipment like police cars, the Niles Teen Center and other facilities.
This year’s capital improvement plan sets aside a total of $1 million for upgrades at Village Hall, $650,000 for a build-out at the recently relocated teen center, $200,000 for improvements at Village Fire Station #2 and $34,000 for purchasing a dozen license plate readers.