Palatine gets state money to expand 2016 road plan

Just hours before the Palatine village council approved its $112 million 2016 budget, lawmakers in Springfield provided about $500,000 that the budget did not anticipate.

The money was not an early Christmas present. It was gasoline tax revenue Illinois owed the village, but had been withholding for months while the state operated without a budget.

The unexpected revenue will allow the village to improve sections of seven roads needing work, including parts of Arbor Court, Baronet Lane, Lancelot Lane, Sherwood Lane, Arbor Lane, Carpenter Drive and Poplar Street, officials say.

"They were dropped out (of the repaving plan), we weren't planning on doing them, but with the state action today the intention now is to include them," Village Manager Reid Ottesen said.

The village council approved the budget unanimously, but council member Tim Millar objected to a proposed 5 percent increase to the village's electric utility tax that was included.

"Just fundamentally, I'm opposed to increasing the electric tax," Millar said. "It's not what I'm a big fan of."

Ottesen said the increase is necessary because of declining revenue elsewhere. For example, in 2008 the village took in about $3 million through a tax on landline phone usage, but they anticipate receiving less than $2 million in 2016.

The electric tax increase will net the village about $1 million, and cost the average homeowner about $30 per year, Ottesen said.

The village's property tax levy will remain about $21.7 million, the same as last year. That represents about 12.3 percent of the total property taxes paid by Palatine residents, officials say.

The budget includes about $8.1 million to meet the village's pension obligations, which is up $459,085 from 2015 and an increase of $4.5 million over the past 10 years.

The village also will spend $971,285 to replace aging vehicles in its fleet, including seven police vehicles, two 5-ton dump trucks, a wheel loader and a backhoe. The purchases will not make the fleet any larger.

The council also is earmarking $25,000 for the village's 150th anniversary celebration next year.