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No levy hike in Schaumburg's proposed budget

Another year with a flat property tax levy and new comprehensive land-use and marketing plans are among the highlights of Schaumburg's proposed 2016-17 budget, which village board members will discuss later this month.

Schaumburg Finance Director Lisa Happ said the state's budget impasse plus pending legislation that threatens to freeze municipal tax levies are among the reasons the village isn't proposing a levy reduction, as it had for several years since first enacting a property tax in 2009.

Instead, the plan calls for a third consecutive year with a flat levy.

"This budget was developed mindful that the state continues to operate without an approved budget; the village is planning carefully given the continued threat of reductions to state-shared revenues," Happ said in written statement. "Regardless of what the state does or does not do, the village is committed to providing a fiscally responsible budget that allows us to continue to deliver the first-rate services and programs that residents, businesses and visitors have come to expect."

The proposed budget - which would cover expenses from May 1, 2016, through April 30, 2017 - projects total revenues at $267 million, a 22 percent increase over the previous year's amended budget.

The increase is largely due to the sale of $50 million in bonds to finance road and other infrastructure improvements.

The village's general fund, covering basic operating expenses, is projected to have $101 million in revenues and $89.9 million in costs, the latter a 3.1 percent increase from the previous year, Happ said.

The budget also includes $42 million in capital improvement projects. Of the village's $32 million share of those costs, $18.7 million will fund various roadway improvements.

Other new aspects of the budget include surveying residents through the National Citizen Survey to compare results with those of 2014 and utilizing a social media network for two-way communication with residents.

For more information about the proposed budget, visit ci.schaumburg.il.us/Docs/Finance/Pages/Budget.aspx.

The village board's committee-of-the-whole meeting on the budget will begin at 6:30 p.m. April 19, in the lecture hall of the Prairie Center for the Arts at 201 Schaumburg Court. Trustees are expected to approve a budget April 26.

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