Vicki Carney: Candidate Profile

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Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioQA Bio City: Prospect HeightsWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Prospect Heights Park Board Age: 55Family: I live in Prospect Heights with my husband, Jim Bunegar, and my daughter, Shannon, who is a sophomore at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. I have a son, Patrick, who works with his dad in Darien, WI. I also have a stepdaughter, Jodi, and her family in Frankfort, IL and a stepson, Edward, with his family in Palos Park, IL.Occupation: CPA, Tax Senior Manager/DirectorEducation: B.S. Accounting - Mars Hill University, Mars Hill, NC Masters of Taxation - Georgetown University, Washington, DCCivic involvement: Currently, Special Leisure Services Foundation Board Member Previously, Prospect Heights Park District Board of Commissioners (12 years) St. Alphonsus School Board (10 years)Elected offices held: Prospect Height Park District Board of Commissioners (12 years)Questions Answers What programs aren't paying for themselves? Would you keep, eliminate or change them? How and why?The park district always needs to be diligent with its use of taxpayer money and make sure that programming fees cover most or all of its costs. Staff and the board of commissioners share information frequently on the costs of programs as compared to the benefit that the programming offers to the community. It requires balance and fairness when you evaluate the merits of a program. There are some programs that the park district decides are worth keeping around even though they might not fully pay for themselves. A good example of this is the swimming pool. All pools are expensive to operate. There are staffing costs, maintenance costs, water, insurance, pool chemicals, safety training, oversight costs and others. However, the pool is an integral part of the summer life at the park district. The pool is used by summer camp, swim team, special swim lessons, facility rentals, etc. You would never eliminate the pool with all of the summer users that we have. That is an example where the evaluation is not just about the dollars. I believe that there may be ways where we can make changes in programming that may yield some cost savings but any change needs to be carefully reviewed with the park district users and park district staff.Is there any additional open space the park district needs to acquire? Please describe.While targeting and acquiring more open space can seem like an exciting win for the park district, constituents also should realize that there is a cost in taking that action. If the park district acquired more property, that means that is comes off the tax base that is used to assess property taxes because the property is owned by a government agency. Less base means that everyone's property tax rate goes up just to collect the same tax dollars. Expenses like mowing the grass, plowing the snow, paying for other maintenance needs like weed control, etc. all have to be paid with park district dollars. I think the more important question is are we doing the most with the space that we have? I think continuing to evaluate what we have and how we can better utilize what we have is an important goal. Working cooperatively with other government agencies such as the school district, the library, the city or other park districts can help us all get more out of what each group brings to the table.Are there any unmet recreational needs? If yes, what are they and how would you propose paying for them? Or, should they wait until the economy improves?The Prospect Heights Park District currently offers 18 hole golf, swimming, yoga, jazzercise, fitness center, racquetball, basketball, tennis, preschool, before and after care, summer camps, senior trips, baseball and softball fields, swim team, bike trails, walking trails, driving range, special events like daddy/daughter dances, open space for soccer practice and games, dance programs and that is just a sampling of the programming. That is a lot of programming for one of the smaller park district budgets in the NW suburbs. The park district is a service provider for recreation and I think you always need to be reaching out to the constituents to make sure that we are staying current with their recreation needs. With their input, the park district can decide if changes need to be made to recreational programming.Would you support sharing/pooling resources (i.e. printing, vehicles) with other local governments (school districts, village, etc.)? If so, what areas would you consider combining or merging to save money or improve efficiency?I totally support sharing. We are all better standing together than we are by ourselves. I recall during my previous years on the park board, we want to improve some property that the park district owned - John Muir Park. We knew there was some grant money available to help with the cost but we were one of many applicants all chasing the same dollars. How could we get people to notice our grant application? We were able to partner with the Wheeling Park District in a joint application. By cooperating, the Wheeling and Prospect Heights Park Districts were able to design a plan for wetland preservation, nature trails, athletic fields, playgrounds, basketball, and walking/jogging paths.If you are a newcomer, what prompted you to run for the park board? If you're an incumbent, list your accomplishments or key initiatives in which you played a leadership role.I have previously served on the Board of Commissioners for 12 years. I did not run for re-election the year that my daughter was a freshman in high school. She was involved in school sports and I wanted to be able to attend as many events as I could so decided not to run for a 4th term at that time. I always hoped there would be a need and an opportunity for me to return to the board. I hope the community will support me as I return to the ballot.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?It is important to me that the park district continue to work within its budget, wisely utilizing taxpayer money. I have a strong financial background that I can put to good use as a member of the Board of Commissioners.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Pope FrancisWhat's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Biggest lesson was to value hard work.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I would have learned to swim when I was a kid.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Favorite subject in grade school was math. I'm an accountant.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?I have always told my kids to be a helper, not a hindrance. Strive to make things better.