Roselle leaders: Cut costs or go bankrupt
Saying they could face bankruptcy in less a decade without taking action, Roselle officials recommended a plan to cut costs and generate more revenue.
For more than an hour Monday night, village board members discussed an independent study conducted in May by Sikich LLP, which examined such issues as redundancies in how Roselle does business and better ways to use technology. All told, the $23,000 study included 31 recommendations on ways to save or make money.
And if the village doesn’t follow the study’s recommendations, “It is our feeling that nonacceptance will result in the village literally being bankrupt in less than ten years,” according to a memo from Trustees Terrence Wittman and Andy Maglio.
Sikich also conducted interviews with all staff members and researched 14 communities similar to Roselle to see how they provide programs and services.
Wittman said the changes envisioned in the study will affect both village staff and services for residents.
“We are at a crossroads,” he said. “I don’t know any other way to say it. We really have to do things we aren’t comfortable to do.”
While trustees and other officials did not offer specifics about where services or staff might be eliminated, several Roselle employees concerned about the fate of their jobs attended Monday’s meeting.
Last year, Roselle’s revenues were about $13.5 million, while expenses ran at about $14 million. O’Dell said about $10 million of those expenses include payroll, health insurance and pension contributions for employees. Another $1.5 million is spent on paramedic contract services, emergency dispatching and equipment replacement.
Although Roselle had a carry-over balance that covered a nearly $600,000 deficit in 2010, projections show that could change by 2014 and Roselle could face a shortfall. Projections show that deficit would also continue in future years.
“As much as we have a need and a want to help everybody, the dollars may not be here to do that,” O’Dell said. “We can’t be that sexy local government that may be another community is or may be what we want to be.”
In recent years, the village has consolidated its dispatching services, ended brush pickup, reduced village hall hours and eliminated its DARE program.
In addition, nonunion employees have faced pay cuts, furlough days and pay freezes. Two police officers were laid off in early 2010. In addition, some posts vacated by attrition or retirement have not been filled.
Wittman said generating new revenue is a priority, but the village can’t rely solely on these efforts and needs to make more cuts. He said Roselle businesses would have to generate about $60 million in additional annual sales just to produce enough tax revenue to plug the current shortfall of nearly $600,000.
Wittman and other trustees agreed hoping for such a boom is unrealistic, and the cost-cutting must be immediate.