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Des Plaines officials: Budget impasse may mean no new cops, firefighters

Des Plaines officials are bracing for nearly $12 million in state funding losses that they warn could mean police and firefighter positions going unfilled and capital projects being delayed.

The money owed Des Plaines is held up in the ongoing state budget stalemate, and city officials are starting to put together a list of items they may need to cut if the funding doesn't come through.

That could include not filling five vacancies in the police department, five in the fire department, and four in the public works department.

For now, the city is covering that workload by paying existing employees overtime.

Officials also are considering delaying big-ticket projects or purchases, such as downtown streetscaping, Northwest Highway landscaping, new vehicles, and buying out flood-prone homes as part of a federal program.

"I'm not here to scream doom and gloom to all of you, but to tell you that there are at least three funds that we haven't received revenue on since at least June, and I don't know when we are going to receive revenue," City Manager Mike Bartholomew said this week during a city council 2016 budget hearing.

Those revenues are generated locally, but first must go through the state before being passed back to the city. They include Des Plaines' share of gambling tax revenues generated from Rivers Casino, motor fuel tax, and emergency 911 wireless surcharge fees.

City officials project that if the state budget impasse lasts through the end of the calendar year, the city will have lost $11.1 million in gambling revenues, $660,000 in motor fuel taxes, and $186,000 in emergency 911 fees.

Together, that money is just about as much as the city has in its reserve funds currently not earmarked to any projects.

"That's a concern," Bartholomew said. "I sense we will get this money. There's no guarantee we will get the money. But that's the impasse that we all - it's not just Des Plaines, it's all the local municipalities - are dealing with."

Bartholomew's presentation to aldermen this week at the first of three city budget hearings was perhaps foreshadowed by comments made by Mayor Matt Bogusz last month.

While warning of the proposed $11.9 million funding losses, Bogusz openly criticized Alderman Patti Haugeberg and Alderman Jim Brookman for not taking a hard line against Gov. Bruce Rauner, and questioned whether they'd want capital projects in their wards delayed as a result.

Haugeberg repeated a similar stance this week when she asked City Finance Director Dorothy Wisniewski to confirm that gambling revenues generated in 2015 are put into an interest-bearing account by the city, and not spent until 2017. Haugeberg also believes the city could cover costs for newer vehicles through its equipment replacement fund.

Alderman Dick Sayad left open the door to increasing local taxes if the state doesn't pay up, so as not to jeopardize public safety.

As it stands, city officials are planning no increase in the tax levy - the fifth year in a row the city has kept the levy flat.

Aldermen will continue to discuss the city's proposed $162 million 2016 budget during hearings Oct. 21 and Nov. 3. The council is expected to adopt the budget Nov. 16.

Des Plaines mayor critical of 2 aldermen over state budget stance

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