Dec
01
Budget known, HFest unknown
Budget passes 6-1.
Everyone on council agreed this was a tough budget to do, and in the end all but Commissioner William Waldack voted for it. Several council members echoed Bruce Beckman’s request for a “debriefing” so that the good and bad of this year’s marathon process could be reviewed and improvements wrought.
Most council members had something they didn’t like about the budget. Waldack had the best visual aids, using a can of soda to explain how little it would take to avoid the cuts, and comparing an apple core to an apple to explain the difference between what functions are necessary, what services are needed beyond that, and how the extra beyond a core minimum makes a community more complete. His comments garnered applause from the audience.
Mayor Sandack kept coming back to a familiar theme: personnel expenses are outstripping the village’s ability to pay them: Here’s the dollars we have, here’s the things wanted. We don’t have the money, math is math. By stripping the budget this year, next year may be easier to figure out.
Going, going, gone
DARE is gone. The two most junior patrol policemen are gone at the end of year. Counseling and Social Services: also gone EOY, although it’s unclear whether the department director carries on. Community Events has been pared to just one person. No open positions will be filled. Community Grants are gone. The village’s contribution to Meals on Wheels is gone. The senior taxi subsidy continues at two-thirds its previous level.
Heritage Fest is gone as a village-enabled event. The Ice Festival is gone as a village event, but will return as a smaller event over Valentine’s Day weekend (more on that in a later post). The Criterion bike races are gone unless someone wants to pick up the reins. Fourth of July parade and fireworks stay, tree-lighting and events at Thanksgiving stay, the Bike and Buggy parade stay.
Despite the cuts, taxes are up: The increase to a home with $300K market value will be somewhere around $48, depending on what gets abated. Sales tax goes up .25% on July 1, 2010.
You can read the village press release here. After noting to staff that the costs for Heritage Fest keep shifting around, the latest quoted is $494,000. After earlier seeing the cost estimated $161,000, $30,000, $80,000, and $7,820, $494K seems a bit high.
Heritage Fest is dead. Long live Heritage Fest.
David Humphries has served on the Community Events Commission for 26 years. That’s one year less than the run of Heritage Fest. He made many pertinent points, including how HF generates about $40,000 in sales tax from sales at local businesses — revenues that are not reflected in the financial reckonings.
We’ve written before about how HF acts as a charity-giving leveraged multiplier, creating significant revenues for youth groups and not-for-profits; you name it, all get operating money from a HF event. When it was decided the village was out of the HF business in 2010, some actual costs were not known — to decision-makers, to the CEC, or to the residents. However, there is now a list of costs for events that require a permit, which any replacement for HF will be, so those will be known shortly.
I went to the CEC meeting ready to ask that the commission reach out to civic groups for help to keep HF going in 2010 and, wouldn’t you know it, those groups were there too, volunteering to step up to keep an event going that had so many benefits, fiscal and otherwise, to the community.
Just another example how DG rocks. There’s still more to be worked out, but the village can do a lot to make this happen this year as a cost-neutral event if they want to do it. Council voted last week to kill it for 2010. If commissioners don’t throw any roadblocks down, Heritage Fest may still take place this coming year in that smaller, more focused format many DGreport readers have tossed around, incorporating ideas many have posited here and elsewhere.
But if Heritage Fest costs anywhere near the latest village estimate of $494,000, no civic group will be able to do it.
So far it looks like the Rotarians, Noon Lions, Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Management Corp. and the Economic Development Corporation are all willing to pitch in. More planning help, more volunteer help will be needed. For those willing to pitch in, stay tuned. The next Community Events Commission meeting is in two weeks.
Here’s what gripes me about getting rid of the DARE program. Supposedly, by eliminating DARE, we can lay off 2 officers and save their salaries.
What happens say 5 to 12 years from now? We might need to hire several new officers, in addition to the 2 that were laid off, because of the growing drug problem at DGN and DGS, and possibly at the junior high schools.
Yes, keeping DARE and the 2 officers might be putting a major dent in the budget for 2010, but think how much more we may be spending in 2015 through 2022 in terms of the police department, to arrest kids who might have stayed off drugs with the DARE program.
No one seems to know if HF costs the Village money and if so how much. Accounting is a very creative art form and depending on how you work the numbers will depend on the outcome. In my mind, with some new or increased sources of revenue and reduced expenses HF would have generated a direct profit or breakeven for the Village. Non-profits would have continued to benefit and much of their funding would have stayed in the Village. Villages residents would have continued to benefit. It would have been a win-win event.
Maybe non-profits can keep it going. It will be tough. The Village has indicated they are charging for every service they render, volunteer hours needed to organize and produce HF will be hard to come by, various up front costs and the risk of bad weather could prove too costly or risky for many non-profits.
Just some quick estimates of what non-profits have generated and returned to the Village in one form or another over the last 28 years. The 2 Lions Clubs, between $400,000-500.000 over the life of HF. The Rotary, last year alone, about $100,000. They ran the beer garden. A local church youth ministry with their parking, about $5,000 a year. That is just 3 of the many non-profits involved.
Some council members justified their vote in doing away with HF because now is no time to have a party. HF was so much more than just a party.
The Mayor made a great point if the things are so good and the Village should have kept HF then why did the Rotary Club cancel Octoberfest this year???
Answer they had no money or sponsors. Very same issue facing the Village.
Core services is what my taxes should be paying for not a party.
Its easy to say that taxes should be spent on core services and not a party when those labels are tossed around without substance or definition. As the posts here show, “core services” can mean different things to different people. And even if everyone agreed on the definition, there is the critical question of how much of those core services does a community really require? Criticism for cutting certain things while sparing others was inevitable.
You can keep the core service of sidewalks where they are not wanted. Also please close the library if it was never mentioned as a core service. You want a library? Find a sponsor. Fireworks and 4th parade? Enticing children to play with explosives, and giving a parade so politicians can wave at the hoi polloi is a core service? Get rid of them. It’s a good time to be here in DG. Finally some real chop chop chop to all the waste. Keep at it boys.
Here is what USA Today had to say about DARE. I am just sayin!
http://www.druglibrary.org/think/~jnr/dareart.htm
We should keep police in the schools by doing PTA sponsored events. Maybe an assembly where p0lice can offer tips to kids on drug prevention and other items.
Dine In !
Shop In !
Stay In !
Print In?
Mail In?
Post cards went out today with the towns new slogan , ” dine , shop , stay in Downers grove, just in time for Christmas. This was printed , And mailed out, Money was made, And taxes were collected. But would you guess that Downers Grove did not get any of this.
No, it looks as thou the village of Downers Grove, More specific the E.D.C. DID NOT! SHOP IN! Downers Grove. All of this printing was sent out to Elk Grove Village as well as the mailing.
How can we expect this campaign to be successful if our own village does not keep its business “IN” Downers Grove?
What about the tax Money.?
I am sure that this was put out to competitive bid and a mail house in Elk Grove had the cheapest bid.
Glad to see the EDC is looking to save money as well.
Thanks EDC!
Tom:
Glad to see you survived the Thanksgiving Holiday intact.
While I am confident that the DG Economic Development Corporation prudently squeezes every penny out of its limited budget, it is not part of the Village and has no obligation to engage in competitive bidding. That said, the DGEDC’s budget is vetted and approved by not only its board, which is comprised of very savvy individuals and business leaders, but also the Village Council. I also fully concur with you that the DGEDC deserves many accolades for providing a tremendous return on the community’s investment, despite overwhelming challenges.
I understand the need for competitive pricing but there is a valid point that a “shop” in Downers Grove postcard was printed and mailed using non-Downers Grove businesses. It is almost humorous! But sadly we lost the opportunity to put the tax dollars used on this mailing back into our Village.
Ironically the EDC won’t allow non-Downers Grove businesses to participate in their marketing events(Taste of Downers comes to mind)but is using non-Downers businesses to market Downers?! The EDC restricting participation to only DG businesses is valid because EDC as part of the Village is tasked with the responsibility of bringing and retaining businesses in Downers Grove. Yet it is not hiring Downers Grove businesses?! Are the financial benefits of bringing in tax dollars to our Village part of the bid process? And hiring DG businesses seems to be a great way of retaining them!
As a resident and business owner I understand the need for fiscal responsibility, and appreciate the EDC wanting to look for the lowest price on bids. Yet how can we ask our residents to spend their money in the Village if the Village isn’t?
Tom How are you sure of this?
And were is the mail house in E Grove?
And what makes you think it is the cheapest?
Can you let me know?
Yom, Martin
How will we ever know if this is the lowest bid, And not just Chicago politics .And what has the EDC done for Downers Grove?
Chad, the article you referenced is…..16 YEARS OLD!!!! My opinion, if the schools want it, then they should pay for it. PTA’s various fundraisers could fund the occasional visit by a police officer to facilitate the program.
With all due respect, the DGEDC is the recipient of undue grief here. As someone who served as an ex-officio member of that organization for two years, I can assure you that every reasonable effort is, of course, made to keep DG dollars in DG. But, none of the elected bodies in town use – or can use — 100% certified DG-only vendors for every single contractual need. But they try their best. What is more, even if there was some minor transgression here, it pales in comparison to the tremendous benefits that the hard work of the DGEDC has reaped for the community – and its tax base. Truth be known, this town would be in considerably worse financial shape without the DGEDC’s mostly successful efforts to help our hamlet grow its tax base (not tax rate).
Business Owner:
You asked what the EDC has done for Downers Grove. The Lemon/Michael’s Fresh Market, Dover Corp., Devry, Ziegler Auto, Suzuki, Taste of Downers Grove, all come immediately to mind.
As for the out-of-town printing: It’s a reasonable question to ask, considering the “In” campaign. In fact, I questioned why so many big, fundraising events were being held out of town in this post last spring. The answer: there just aren’t DG venues big enough.
I’ll give the EDC a call tomorrow to find out about the printing decision. In the meantime, I’m wondering if you, as a business owner, have other concerns. Clearly, times are tough for people in your position. If there is more to your story, please feel free to share it.
Maybe as a business owner
Business Owner:
As mentioned, the DG EDC is a separate, private entity that is not required to engage in the formal, lowest qualified bidder process that many governmental entities must. Instead, the DG EDC is free to make the choices that it determines best suit its mission and customers, just like you are as a private business owner. Thus, the concern about possible “Chicago politics” is not quite apt here. Indeed, the DG EDC is highly-motivated to favor local merchants, which I suppose you could say is actually a “desirable” form of patronage.
As to what the DG EDC has done for Downers Grove, let me count the ways . . . . Feel free to contact me directly at martintully@comcast.com if you would like to discuss it further. I’d be glad to elaborate.
Oh, and by the way, thank you for helping to demonstrate that citizens of good nature can, in fact, engage in respectful discussion, debate and discourse, even through use of pseudonyms and/or anonymously.
Merry Christmas,
Martin Tully (or am I?)
Pick a study any study…They all say the same thing. Google it! There is no proof that the kids in the DARE program stay off drugs and alcohol. Its a nobel effort but it doesn’t work. I offered a solution. Anyone else got any?
Have I ever mentioned how much I like this Tully guy??
“business owner”
why should the EDC or its board members even engage this conversation with you? How do we know you are not a resident of another town? Or a member of another town’s EDC, who quite frankly, would be jealous of all the DGEDC’s success’s over the past few years.
Just saying….if you want to sling mud…show your face. Or are you yourself engaging in Chicago Politics?
If the schools want D.A.R.E then they will have to fund it. Does it work? Drug use and abuse crosses all racial and socioeconomic boundaries and the seed is all to often sown at home.
As I placed money into one of those “donation boxes” for a local charity at DTDG store yesterday I wondered if that type of funds collection could serve as seed money for HF…….
I picked up a few factoids that may allay the concerns of Business Owner and others:
EDC purchasing decisions are governed by purchasing policies that specify the number of bids, the amount of discretionary dollars that can be spent before board approval and the requirement that local businesses or businesses owned by DG residents should be given preferential treatment.
As a result, 89 percent of the EDC’s controllable expenditures are made at businesses in DG or owned by local residents. And controllable expenses account for 80 percent of EDC expenditures.
Interestingly, I got my postcard and couldn’t see where it states the printing job was down out of town. I know my vision is going, but…
No it dosent say who printed them, but if you call them they will let you know, as well give you the contact information so you can go to them to get printing done.
Business owner
Sounds to me you are still ticked at the fact that the EDC supported ATI
dgombudsman and ckfred…
There have been many studies over the years showing that DARE programs are ineffective over the long-term for preventing drugs. This has been known a long time…how amazing that people survived so long without DARE, I’m betting we’ll survive still.
$494,000? How much $$$ are up-front costs? Who covers that? The NFP’s don’t have up-front money, they need HF to make money.
SO, the Community Events Commission may have some thoughts on that. They meet in two weeks again to try and hash out more regarding what their tasking is, what they can do, and how they can help. Remember these folks are resident volunteers, so if you know one wish them well for the tough job they face, and maybe be willing to pitch in however you can.
In the two years the Park District and village have done the recycling event they’ve been able to come up with plenty of volunteers to man the stations. Heritage Fest is a much larger event, but you have to think people would be willing to pitch in a couple hours doing something mundane like emptying garbage cans or shlepping barriers around or checking ID’s at a beer tent. It would certainly give a sense of ownership to the whole deal.