Divided Hanover Park board approves budget

Three Hanover Park trustees opposed the village's $58.96 million budget Thursday night, arguing the village didn't do enough to tighten purse strings.

But Mayor Rodney Craig cast the tiebreaking vote allowing the 2015 plan to take effect.

The general fund, representing the lion's share of the budget, will grow about $1.9 million to $31.6 million from the fiscal year ending April 2014. The village adopted an eight-month budget ending this month to make the switch from a fiscal year starting May 1 to a calendar year.

Interim Finance Director Greg Peters blamed the spending hike on rising costs from pensions, as well as employee health and liability insurance. The budget does not add staff.

But Trustee Bill Cannon said officials should have cut back elsewhere.

"I think we should be tightening our belts, holding the line and just patiently waiting until things get better," he said.

Where should the village trim costs? Cannon said officials should look first at marketing expenses.

"Anything spent in trying to market the village right now, anything spent on trying to lure companies in, anything like that, it's just not the time," Cannon said. "What do businesses do when the economy gets bad? They cut their marketing departments drastically."

Cannon and Trustees Jenni Konstanzer and Edward Zimel voted against the spending plan and a 3 percent increase to the village's property tax levy. Craig and Trustees Jon Kunkel, Rick Roberts and James Kemper supported both measures.

Although the budget is balanced, financial planners warned of a more than $600,000 deficit earlier this year.

But the extra revenue from the levy increase - the village should pull in an additional $385,895 over last year's extension - helped plug the hole. In recent years, trustees have approved back-to-back 4.99 percent hikes to the levy.

In total, the levy will raise $13.2 million paid by property taxpayers in 2015. The average homeowner should see a $3 or $4 increase on the village's portion of the property tax bill, Peters said.

As the village changes to a fiscal year starting Jan. 1, one unknown is whether employee salaries will rise as a result of contract negotiations with four unions, including those representing police and firefighters, Village Manager Juliana Maller said. New deals usually take effect May 1, when the village's old fiscal year began.