5-year forecast keeps Barrington in black

Despite the economic uncertainties of the past five years, a financial forecast of the next five has left Barrington officials confident they’ve created a sustainable level of services for the times ahead.

“I think the staff has been great in finding efficiencies in what we do,” said village President Karen Darch.

Though recent years have proved how unpredictable the future can be, a conservative forecast of the next five years shows the village capable of generating small annual surpluses and maintaining reserves worth four months of operating costs.

In November 2008, Barrington announced it was cutting 13 positions — more than 10 percent of its staff — to save $1.5 million per year. The current staffing level is not expected to significantly rise or fall during the next five years, Darch said.

The only major capital improvement projects on the horizon involve maintenance of roads and sewers. For the next half-decade, however, only about $1.3 million to $1.5 million per year is expected to be spent on such infrastructure improvements — less than the $2 million the village has traditionally spent.

Any upturn in the economy in the coming years is expected to see the village focus almost exclusively on its long-deferred economic redevelopment projects, especially downtown, Darch said.

The land has already been acquired and a tax increment finance (TIF) district established to help facilitate such development. In the meantime, developers are looking for the right projects and the right market conditions to move forward.

Barrington officials have been lobbying hard for such long-term financial changes as public pension reform to make government operations more sustainable, Darch said. But the expectations created by the new financial forecast are not dependent on such major changes taking effect within the next five years, she added.