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Tuesday was the Long Range Financial Planning meeting (see Required reading for background, as well as category budget for DGreports extensive posts on past budgets).  Barnett and Beckman were unable to attend.  All the curve balls and budget sucker punches thrown by the state we’ve already discussed.  There was a general agreement among council members that the existing [...]

At the last June council meeting Mayor Sandack referred to 4-5 resident comments on the village website regarding Long Term Financial Planning that starts on June 29th. The lack of input may be from lack of information. This link will take you direct to a 15 page village summary report on the current financial state, [...]

The state’s unfunded pension debt passed the $85 billion mark this summer.  That unfunded liability is squeezing out money for other valued needs, such as education and health care. It means the state has less money for things like child-care aid and fixing roads and schools, or paying some of the $1 billion it owes [...]

The state is pulling us off the same cliff edge they jumped off years ago. David Vaught, Governor Quinn’s budget director, announced Quinn’s intention of reducing income tax payments to municipalities in Illinois by 30%. “You need to take a look and say OK, does everybody have skin in the game here?” Vaught said. “It [...]

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 [...]

So far there’s been an ongoing discussion of pensions, which unfortunately only the state can address; we’ve posted on payroll escalations in the upcoming year, cost per resident comparisons, payroll and staff comparisons, expense cuts and potential revenue generators.  Look in “budget” under category in the side bar search and you’ll get a good jumping [...]

Mayor Sandack doesn’t want a village dentist. This is going to be a collaborative report, and will be modified.  I took what EJ wrote last night and spliced in my own notes, and she will do the same later.  I encourage everyone to chime in with their own thoughts, as a couple times I was [...]

After months of staff study, staff reports and investigation of what expense and revenue tools were available, tonight the 2010 budget began to come into focus.  There’s still a way to go, but for the first time publicly and in detail council put some skin into the budget process tonight, outlining what their thoughts were [...]

Our village employees, in light of recent changes to overtime, health insurance and pay, still enjoy a generous compensation package.  Some say too generous; some say well worth it.  The reality is our local government is immune from free market private sector factors that set the pay point where demand meets supply.

A packed house. This eighth budget meeting was the first of nine meetings that will actually lead to a real budget.  All of the programs that have had cuts proposed for them were lined up to be discussed.  Mayor Sandack took a straw vote to see where the big turnouts were for what issue, and [...]