Bartlett trustees can't agree on budget
Bartlett village board members on Tuesday failed to agree on a budget for the spending year that begins May 1.
With Trustee Aaron Reinke absent from the meeting, and Trustees Adam Hopkins and Vince Carbonaro voting "no" on the spending plan, the seven-member board, including Village President Kevin Wallace, failed to get the required five votes to pass the budget.
"Some of the cuts I didn't think were necessary," Carbonaro said. "This is the third budget I've voted on, and I haven't voted to pass any of them."
Carbonaro said the village has delayed several sewer system repairs that are now coming back to bite it.
"I just didn't feel confident in that part of the budget," he said. "We were also missing a trustee tonight."
The proposed 2016-17 working budget is $53.6 million, about 13 percent lower than the last year's $61.8 million plan.
Bartlett Finance Director Jeff Martynowicz says the village will leave five vacant positions open. The village will also put off installing a new phone system that would cost about $250,000, Martynowicz said.
The purchase of new village vehicles also will be on hold this year.
Hopkins says he cannot approve a budget that taxes Bartlett residents living in Cook County twice for mosquito abatement.
The proposed budget has $72,000 earmarked for mosquito abatement. Residents who live in the Cook County portion of Bartlett receive mosquito abatement services from the Northwest Mosquito Abatement District, not the village. Hopkins says those taxpayers are being unfairly charged twice for only one round of mosquito abatement.
Hopkins suggested removing the abatement earmark from the budget and charging residents on the DuPage County side for mosquito abatement on their water bills instead of on property tax bills.
Wallace said trustees will discuss the budget further during a special meeting or at the regularly scheduled April 19 meeting.
"This is really the way the system runs," Wallace said. "There are questions and issues, and that's why we have votes."