Lake Zurich board debates budgeting

Lake Zurich Village Administrator Bob Vitas says he wants elected officials to help shape the next fiscal year’s budget in an effort to create one of the best such documents in Illinois.

Vitas spoke of his preference for the elected officials to spend up to 18 hours over various budget sessions after Trustee Jonathan Sprawka suggested otherwise during a village board meeting last week.

“It’s time to place our trust in the staff to develop a budget that reflects the board’s direction,” Sprawka said.

But Vitas said the elected officials’ input will be valuable for the new fiscal year that starts May 1. He said the village’s strategic plan will be incorporated into the 2011-12 budget with ideas that would need funding.

Lake Zurich officials have an opportunity to adopt a budget “that’s second to none in Illinois” by following a process designed to lead to full transparency on spending, Vitas said.

“I know we don’t want to meet for 24 hours or even 18 — I know that,” he said.

Village boards in Gurnee and Vernon Hills are among those that spend considerable hours in budget sessions. Vernon Hills even has had special Saturday budget work sessions for the board.

Before Vitas spoke Monday night, Mayor Suzanne Branding and trustees Jim Johnson and Dana Rzeznik supported Sprawka’s idea of less village board involvement in the budget.

“I’d just as soon hang up the green eyeshade and move on to the policy-making aspect of being a trustee,” Johnson said.

Trustees Tom Poynton, Jeff Halen and Rich Sustich were opposed to reducing the time they are scheduled to spend on the proposed budget. Poynton said such a move would be counter to what most cash-strapped governments are doing.

“I think there will come a time when we will be able to look at (the budget) 100 percent and say, ‘We don’t need to look at the details,’” Sustich said.

Last year, the Lake Zurich village board approved a $40.8 million spending plan that ends April 30. Several steps were taken before the budget was passed to narrow what had been a $3.3 million gap between revenue and expenditures.

Employee wage freezes and increased health insurance contributions were among actions taken to balance the budget.

Lake Zurich’s strategic plan runs from 2011 to 2013. The document includes goals such as ensuring the development and maintenance of a capital improvement plan.