Approving Waukegan’s first budget in recent memory, showing a cash surplus, neither the spending plan nor the accompanying salary ordinance approving pay for management and non-union personnel received a unanimous vote from the City Council.
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With a $600,000 surplus forecast in the $281.7 million budget with revenue of $282.3 million projected, the city plans to spend $11million less than last year without increasing the city’s share of property taxes for the sixth consecutive year.
Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham said in an email he is pleased with the effort of the city’s
“data-driven financial roadmap” for the coming fiscal year. Campaigning a year ago on a Rebuild Waukegan platform, the newly approved spending plan was designed for the effort.
“By driving operational efficiencies, capturing lost revenues and modernizing the city’s operation, we are delivering an ambitious commitment to our people, our infrastructure, and our shared future,” Cunningham said in the email. “Together, we will rebuild Waukegan.”
Both Cunningham and David Motley, the city’s public relations director and a 33-year city employee, said they remember budgets using cash reserves to cover a deficit but not a year with an anticipated surplus.
The Waukegan City Council voted 8-1 Monday at City Hall to approve the $281.7 million budget for the fiscal year starting May 1 and concluding April 30, putting the city’s spending plan in motion.
Along with the budget, the council voted 7-2 to approve the salary ordinance, which sets forth what each member of management and every non-union worker on the city payroll is going to make for the fiscal year.
Some council members like Ald. Lynn Florian, 8th Ward, who cast the lone vote against the budget, were worried about potentially unforeseen expenses arising from current economic conditions while Ald. Jose A. Guzman, 2nd Ward, was worried about semantics.
Florian said she likes many elements of the budget — particularly its surplus — but is concerned about issues, both local and national, which could cause projected expenses to soar because of uncertainty about the future.
“We really don’t know what the future holds, especially with this current federal administration,” Florian said. “Are we in a war? Are we not in a war? Is it ending? I am concerned about how the hospital situation is going to affect the city.”
Frequently expressing concerns over the financial condition of Vista Medical Center East, Florian said its failure to pay property taxes of approximately $1 million for the third consecutive year. Around $400,000 of those taxes go to the city. A closed hospital may mean more expenses.
“We’re possibly going to need more ambulances, and we’re going to need more EMS service because they’re going to be going to Libertyville, Highland Park, Lake Forest and probably Kenosha,” Florian said. “They’re going to be gone a lot longer than if they’re just going to Vista.”
Guzman said he wanted to amend the budget to add a more detailed job description to employees listed as special project analysts. Cunningham said detailed job descriptions are not part of the budget. The mayor’s rebuke did not satisfy Guzman.
“I want an actual job description,” Guzman said. “You have eight positions on the budget that say, special project analyst. It’s vague. I want to know what those positions are. I want to know what they do.”
Though he voted for the budget, Guzman was one of the two council members, along with Florian, voting against the salary ordinance.
Nearly half of the budget — $134.7 million—is devoted to salaries and benefits for the city’s employees, including police, fire, public works and other services, according to the proposed budget. Contractual services like engineering, utilities, telephones and more are $77.4 million.
Capital improvements like road, sidewalk, and alley resurfacing and repaving, as well as city vehicles, bridges, culverts and vehicle acquisition, account for $62.8 million, according to the budget.
Less than half of the city’s revenue — $116 million — comes from taxes including property tax, sales tax and the city’s share of the state’s income tax, according to the budget. Property taxes are estimated at $34.6 million. Cunningham said real estate taxes have not been raised in six years.
Voting for both the budget and the salary ordinance were Ald. Sylvia Sims Bolton, 1st Ward, Ald. Juan Martinez, 3rd Ward, Ald. Victor Felix, 4th Ward, Ald. Edith Newsome, 5th Ward, Ald. Keith Turner, 6th Ward, Ald. Michael Donnenwirth, 7th Ward and Ald. Thomas Hayes, 9th Ward.