Burns pledges to hold Geneva to same standard he suggests for county
Kane County Board chairman candidate Kevin Burns recently challenged board members to pass a “zero-growth” budget for next year. Now Burns is promising to hold Geneva to the same guideline for its own current budget discussions.
Geneva’s 2011-12 budget year will finish with operating expenses of $14.34 million, a $7,000 increase over the previous budget. Burns said Geneva is just beginning its discussions for the 2012-13 budget with an eye for a completely flat operating expense line. Burns said that doesn’t mean Geneva’s tax levy won’t increase.
“The failure to capture the value of new development proves damaging to a city’s forecasting and budgeting in perpetuity,” Burns said. “Promising a freeze on the levy, as my opponent has done, is a great bumper sticker statement. But the short-, mid- and long-term impact on the overall fiscal health of the governing body is disastrous. We deserve more than symbolism; we deserve substance.”
Burns took the shot at his GOP opponent, State Sen. Chris Lauzen, after releasing numbers showing a 20 percent decrease in Geneva’s general fund expenditures from the 2008-09 budget year to the 2011-12 budget year. The city spent $18.34 million in 2008-09. That was actually $1.2 million more than the money the city brought in that year. City officials balanced the shortfall by dipping into reserves. Geneva spent $14.33 million in 2010-11 budget and $14.34 million in 2011-12, according to Burns.
Lauzen didn’t have the numbers Burns’ campaign released when he was interviewed about Burns’ call for Kane County to have a flat budget. Lauzen still criticized Burns’ record.
He pointed to a chart he created showing a 46 percent increase in Geneva’s property tax levy during the past 11 years.
“I rejoice that my opponent has found “fiscal religion” because that just hasn’t been his clear record for 11 years as mayor of Geneva,” Lauzen said, adding that he has a simple philosophy for government tax levies and spending.
“No more than last year,” Lauzen said. “It’s like putting the government on a fixed income. It’s just a line in the sand.”
To that end, Lauzen still promotes a chart he created that drew criticism at its first appearance. The chart appears to show a 50 percent increase in Kane County tax levy from 2003 to 2010. Lauzen first circulated the chart in June during an appearance Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay made at an Americans for Prosperity event. McConnaughay blasted Lauzen for creating a “disingenuous” chart that misleads taxpayers.
All Lauzen’s chart showed, she said, was a steady increase of money coming to the county because of population growth, not an increasing tax burden. For proof, she pointed to the lack of increases in the county’s tax rate.