Wheeling, Prospect Hts. still haven't approved airport budget
Chicago Executive Airport will operate under the terms of its old budget after both its municipal owners failed to approve a spending plan for the new fiscal year that started last week.
Wheeling trustees and Prospect Heights council members have to agree to approve the budget before it takes effect. But $275,000 in expenses has become a sticking point for the airport's two municipal owners.
The money would pay for CEO Charlie Priester's salary and a possible bonus, as well as allow him and engineering consultants to embark on a yearslong, second phase of a study into operations and business at the third largest airport in the state.
Wheeling leaders don't want to earmark the funds until they get the results of the first phase. Village President Dean Argiris says he's seen only a bare-bones draft and that hasn't persuaded him to proceed to more study. He also has warned Priester that studying a longer runway at the airport is a waste of time.
Some Prospect Heights alderman, however, disagree, saying the money should be included in the new budget. They want Priester to examine an extension to the main runway.
"We should hear why we should or shouldn't do it," Ward 4 Alderman Patrick Ludvigsen said Monday.
Ward 3 Alderman Scott Williamson said he's frustrated by the delay to adopt the blueprint and called it the "first hiccup" since the two towns struck a conciliatory tone a few years ago and ended a yearslong dispute over how to run the airport.
Last week, Wheeling trustees originally approved the budget on the condition that the two line items totaling $275,000 be removed. Prospect Heights alderman, however, tabled a vote on the budget altogether during a special meeting last Wednesday.
"The village board was under the impression that our partners, the city of Prospect Heights, would be taking the same action that then would have required an approval of a revised budget by the Chicago Executive Airport board reflecting the changes requested by the municipalities," Argiris said, reading from a statement during a village board meeting Monday.
The intergovernmental agreement says each town should either accept or reject the budget as the airport presented it, rather than making revisions, Argiris said. So Wheeling trustees formally opposed the 2016 budget Monday.
Trustee Ken Brady said he's particularly taken issue with incentives built into Priester's contract. It calls for a $28,000 bonus - part of the $275,000 in dispute - and an automatic three-year contract extension if the two owners give a preliminary nod to changes to the airport's layout plan.
Brady said the village typically doesn't award bonuses to consultants. Priester's primary job as CEO is overseeing the study, what Brady called a part-time job.
"We don't want to curtail improving the airport," Brady said. "That isn't the whole point. It's just the way it's done just doesn't seem right."