Budget levy set next week

Sandack wasn’t there, Schnell wasn’t there, Beckman was a late no show so the four council commissioners left, led by senior member Bill Waldack, really had to put off any meaningful budget discussion until next week.  So it goes.  The levy is a highest case estimate of how much money the village needs, then some of that levy is abated.  The bond debt (that usually has payment sources already fixed to them) are what normally gets abated.  Abated means they get removed from the levy, reducing how much money is needed.

The next two meetings get pushed back a week each, but final budget approval is still scheduled for 12/15/09.  Barnett spoke often and at length about core services and where does the money get spent, and the general Roberts Rules broke down because Waldack wasn’t keeping a tight ship running the meeting.  He tried bringing up some ideas, and Barnett and Durkin jumped in without being recognized or following order.  Not incoherent like some D99 meetings I’ve attended (and now I can listen to thank you very much), but off track for a council meeting.  If Waldack was looking for more informality, he got it.

Council was in favor of trying restrictions on left hand turns from eastbound 55th onto northbound Washington, and restricting left hand turns from Southbound Washington to westbound 55th Street.  There were five accidents at the intersection of 55th and Washington last year, and Public Works is seeking to make that a safer intersection.

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Council also seemed in favor of approving yet putting off building a traffic calming measure, five traffic calming speed humps along Blodgett between Maple and 55th.  Whittier is along that route, and most kids walk or are driven by parents to school.  No buses.  There’s a ton of bypass traffic  firing down Blodgett in the morning and evening, and it’s at speeds that are lethal when involving accidents with pedestrians.  Too fast when there’s plenty of kids walking to and from school,and it’s a lot of cut through (hence the high speeds).  Resident Bill Wroble, who has championed traffic calming, asked council to find the dollars to get this done next year, that it was not that much money in the first place.  Barnett indicated he would probably vote against the project if it wasn’t going to be done, but he wanted the project done, saying it was a core service to make this street safer, which Durkin and Waldack seemed to agree to.

The two traffic calming measures will probably get approved next week.

Waldack tried to initiate discussion on two items based on council wrangling with the grim job of cutting programs and raising taxes while being aware of the tight economic times many residents face.  The first suggestion was to consider the tax levy at a level that could restore most of the lost programs already decided on being cut by council.  That went nowhere.

The second was to provide a mechanism to rebate the village portion of Real Estate taxes to those homeowners who could prove they were unemployed.  That went nowhere also.  He might try and bring those up again next week.  The rebate idea is kind of innovative and could put council on the spot; they all have said they are mindful of tough times for residents.

Waldack gave them a chance to walk the walk when it comes to empathy but it’s pretty late in the process for such an idea.  Neustadt wanted to know why Waldack had kept it until now, and Waldack said he hadn’t thought about it until now.  If you recall, Waldack also came up with a plan to use PACE to provide funding for the commuter shuttles that might have lowered cost and increased service that council also took a pass on. That was a maybe/might/could type of idea.  the tax rebate seemed much simpler, but underwriting residents ihas clearly been classed as not a core service.  Still, the guy is clearly thinking things through to get to those kind of ideas.

Council will also approve next week an asset maintainance management software (AMMS) package that will let staff further move information into a data set that will allow them to better track and manage infrastructure.  Information is a critical need for planning, so this is a pretty big deal.  Staff is trying to get to a point where they are doing things to infrastructure at a point when it is most cost efficient.  right now, it’s still in a more expensive  catch up mode, as it has been for decades.  This module will track information on the water system and tie it into the GIS mapping system the village employs to track and describe village assets.