Arlington Hts. transition budget includes funding for streets, Metropolis
Arlington Heights has released a proposed $119.3 million budget for an 8-month transition period as the village shifts from a fiscal year to a calendar year financial schedule.
The budget, about 25 percent smaller than a regular fiscal year plan, will take the village from May 1 to Dec. 31 of this year, officials said.
It's larger than one might expect for two-thirds of a year because takes into account seasonal costs such as construction, road work and temporary employees for the summer, said Village Manger Randy Recklaus.
“We think this is still a very lean budget,” Recklaus said.
The budget does not create any new permanent staff positions and keeps village staffing at the 10 percent reduced level that this been in place since fiscal year 2009.
It includes funding for a number of capital projects that will take place over the summer, including $3.6 million for street resurfacing, $700,000 for street rehabilitation, $325,000 for traffic signal improvement at the intersection of Northwest Highway and Wilke Road, and $345,000 to fix brick pavers in the downtown, according to village documents.
Although official decisions have not yet been made on a new police station, the 8-month budget allocates $500,000 for architectural fees. Concept plans and cost estimates for a new facility should be presented to village officials by FGM Architects later this spring.
The spending plan also includes a $170,000 placeholder funding amount for Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, similar to the village's contribution last year, prior to a $450,000 bailout approved in October.
The struggling downtown theater is in the process of putting together a new business plan and will come back to the village board before any additional funding occurs, Recklaus said.
The village has made the budget available online and residents are invited to submit questions to 2015budget@vah.com. Questions that are received by March 1 will be included on a list of formal responses that will be posted on the website by March 5.
The process is an attempt to be more transparent during the shortened budget approval cycle.
“This is a transitional year so we don't have the opportunity for as many budget meetings, so this is a technique we discussed and thought it would be a good thing to try out,” Recklaus said. “It also allows the public to be a little bit more involved.”
Typically the village board holds several meetings in March to go through the budget department by department.
A village board meeting at 7:30 p.m. March 9 will be the only budget discussion meeting for the transition budget. There will be public hearings on April 6 and April 20, before final budget approval that night.
Although there are six candidates running for four seats on the board in the April 7 municipal election, any newly elected board members won't take their seats until May, meaning the current board will approve the final budget.