Buffalo Grove, Mt. Prospect decry state revenue-sharing cut

Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed a 50 percent cut to the local share of the state income tax, called the Local Government Distributive Fund, and that could cause the Village of Buffalo Grove to lose nearly $2.1 million per year.

"It's a significant hit to our revenue," said Village Finance Director Scott Anderson, who made a presentation on the topic at the village board meeting Monday.

Anderson said that the village receives about $4.1 million each year from the state and the village depends on this money to provide high quality services to the residents. The proposed cut represents 5.3 percent of the village's total general fund budget.

"The whole concept is very disturbing," said Village President Jeffrey Braiman. "It's really political as far as I'm concerned."

Braiman said the state is shifting its burden onto the individual municipalities, which he called an unfair move. He said that the village is in solid shape financially and will do what it can to avoid cutting services.

"Staff is still working on a matrix that will include revenue proposals and expenditure cuts at various scenarios," said Anderson. Cuts could involve deferring maintenance and repair work, which would result in more expensive repairs in the future, he said.

No formal action was taken on the presentation.

Representatives of other nearby towns are also concerned with the governor's proposal.

Mount Prospect Mayor Arlene Juracek and Trustee Michael A. Zadel will be in Springfield March 17 to March 19 to share their concerns.

"Any additional cuts in personnel will lead to declining levels of service'" Juracek said in a news release. "Continuous deferral of capital projects will result in deterioration of our hard assets to the point that replacement costs will be driven higher. We face some very tough choices if we lose a multimillion dollar revenue source."