Why can't Mount Prospect just cut spending?

Once again the leadership of Mount Prospect was complaining in the May 3rd edition of the Daily Herald about flat to declining revenues if Governor Rauner's turnaround plan was enacted.

As I understand the plan, cities such as Mount Prospect could be impacted by reduced revenue sharing from Springfield plus a possible freeze in property taxes. It is very interesting to see our elected official see as their only alternative is to raise our property tax levies. Managers in the private sector have to deal with changes in revenue why should the public sector not be expected to do the same.

A reduction of 3% is not that hard to manage given size of the Mt. Prospect budget. I find it hard to believe that there is not $3 million that could be cut in a $113 million budget using the figures supplied in the article.

What I find amazing is that Mount Prospect has lost $ 2 million from a scandal involving city workers harassing a pizza restaurant owner, paid a $250,000 severance package to our former city manager and recently lost $69,000 from a state supported investment fund. Where is the outrage and accountability on these issues.

We have 400 employees in Mount Prospect there must be a few bad eggs among this large number of employees. The number employees mean that there is 1 employee for every 87 residents. This ratio seems a bit high when I see 4 to 5 people laying asphalt and fixing pot holes in Mount Prospect (it reminds me of the city of Chicago work crews).

We could save almost 7% of the $ 3 million by not hiring an Assistant Village Manager that is currently an open position. The city could simply freeze salaries for one year or reduce head count to equate to a $3 million savings. That is how it is done in the private sector.

I wish the comments made by some of our trustees were public before the election and may be they would not have their elected positions. I have lost neighbors who had to move since they could no longer afford their property taxes.

Hopefully someday the mayor and trustees of Mount Prospect will learn that there are other ways to manager than by taxing your citizens more rather than making tough management decisions.

By the way our current budget of $113,000,000 comes out to a spend of $3,531 per resident (based upon a 113,000 million budgeted divided by 35,000 residents) which means we would have to reduce this number to approximately $3,425 to balance the budget. A $106 dollars does not seem like a lot to me. I will gladly help if the mayor and trustees cannot find ways to cut $106 per person.

Bill Loebbaka

Mount Prospect