Candidates discuss Streamwood's reserve fund?

The four candidates for Streamwood trustee know the village takes a more conservative approach to finances than some of its neighbors.

Streamwood will have at least one new trustee among the three seats up in the April 5 election. Trustee Jason Speer chose not to run for another 4-year term. Incumbents James Cecille and Guy Patterson, park district Commissioner Richard Brogan and challenger Mary Thon all praise the village's fiscal restraint. Part of that philosophy includes keeping a general fund reserve balance larger than surrounding towns.

Informally, some call that reserve the “rainy-day fund.” Since 1988, the village has required the reserve to be at least a balance of 25 percent of the general fund. The village had about $5 million in the reserve this year.

But with the economy slumbering and the village forced to move firefighters around, effectively closing a fire station, two candidates said it's time for the village to dip into that fund to help taxpayers and to avoid cuts.

“That rainy-day fund should be putting money back into the village,” the 54-year-old Brogan said. “Take and give out loans to some of those business that are on Irving Park there that are dying. They're starving, the businesses look like heck.”

All transfers have to be approved by the village board, and the 25 percent requirement is reviewed every year during the budget workshops. If the reserve fund balance exceeds 30 percent, the extra gets distributed into the equipment replacement fund and the facilities equipment replacement fund.

The 67-year-old Cecille is seeking his seventh term. He said the village board should have taken money from the reserve to prevent tax increases. The village in the past has withdrawn from the reserve to cover situations such as when the state was late in paying the second installment of the 2010 property taxes.

“It's not a fund I want to bleed dry; it's a fund that that's why you have it, for rainy days,” Cecille said. “It's raining out there. Our staffing is down to a minimum. What are we going to do next year if we're short $200,000 or short of $2 million? What are we going to next year, raise taxes because we don't want to spend the $5 million?”

Thon, 51, is happy with the village's fiscal policies in “keeping things under control.” She doesn't support using money from reserves, saying that money should be saved for emergencies.

“We should never use reserves to fund our budget,” Thon said.

Thon blames rising pension costs for increasing taxes, but the board still was correct in leaving the reserves alone, she said. She agrees with Brogan about the need to help small businesses, but said she's not sure using reserve money would be wise.

Voters elected the 60-year-old Patterson in 2007, and Village President Billie Roth supported him. On Patterson's Daily Herald candidate questionnaire, he wrote that he'd like to see the village continue keeping “strong financial reserves.”

Patterson also wrote that he'd like Streamwood's property taxes to continue to stay lower, compared to neighboring towns. He could not be reached for further comment.