Budget still concern for Libertyville candidates

Two years after a decisive change in leadership on the Libertyville village board, the campaign for trustee is tame in comparison.

In 2009, challengers running as an informal slate for three trustee seats successfully ousted the incumbents, calling for a more business-friendly attitude. That was the first contested trustee race in several years.

Since then, considerable time has been spent dealing with historic financial difficulties. Rather than a call for change, the economy and the state of the village’s finances are a key issue as four candidates challenge for three trustee seats in the April 5 election.

Incumbents Donna Johnson, a corporate attorney, and Nick Proepper, a marketing executive, are each seeking a second four-year term. Drew Cullum, a financial planner, who was appointed to the board in May 2007 and elected to a two-year term in 2009, also wants to extend his stay on the board.

Rounding out the field is Jim Moran, a sales executive and a newcomer to elected politics who has been involved in several community activities.

All agree spending has to be monitored closely but would consider relief for employees as the economy thaws.

The following responses are from candidate questionnaires and interviews with the Daily Herald.

Cullum wants to end unpaid furlough days for village employees and build financial reserves.

“By far the biggest thing is the furlough days,” he said. “Most of the village staff don’t live in the community, yet they treat it like they do.”

Finding new ways to maximize profits until portions of the village-owned Sports Complex are sold is another priority for Cullum.

Johnson said one of her priorities is to continue to provide quality services while finding ways to increase the number of police officers and firefighters. With budget constraints still an issue, the village may want to consider options, such as replacing retiring higher level personnel with a greater number of entry level positions, she said.

She also cited the retention and attraction of businesses to offset declining sales taxes from car sales as a goal.

Moran’s top issue is to determine whether the village is running as efficiently as possible.

“Are there too many employees? Are there too few? A comprehensive evaluation of how our Libertyville operates needs to be undertaken,” he said.

He added he wants to work to eliminate furlough days, and utility taxes enacted by the board need to “go away.”

“The taxpayers are another group we have to help out in this process,” he said.

Proepper said balancing the budget, strengthening reserves, and working toward full staffing on the police and fire departments were priorities.

He added he wants to see “everybody working” and wants to end unpaid furlough days for village employees.

“When we see things on an uptick, I think that’s what we’d like to do first,” he said.

Strengthening the financial performance of the Sports Complex also was high on Proepper’s list of issues.