Palatine proposes balanced 2017 budget, warns of uncertain future

Despite the state's continued financial uncertainty, Palatine's top officials plan on delivering core services to villagers while maintaining a balanced budget in 2017. But Village Manager Reid Ottesen said if Springfield does not get its house in order it could be very bad for Palatine in 2018.

"If pension reform for public safety pensions is not achieved in the coming year, the development of the 2018 budget will likely need to include a complete restructuring of how we provide public safety services and their respective staffing levels or a property tax increase in excess of 10 percent or $2 million," Ottesen said in his annual budget summary. "This is through no fault of our employees, but rather the elected leaders in Springfield that historically enhanced public safety pensions and now refuse to correct their mistakes."

Palatine Mayor Jim Schwantz concurred with Ottesen, adding that the village doesn't have many levers at their disposal to correct for the state's failings.

"If Springfield doesn't take care of its house, it will be very difficult for municipalities," Schwantz said.

Schwantz said he was pleased with the 2017 budget, which he said delivers on the village's core services.

"It's something we've been pretty steady with for seven or eight years," he said.

The village is slated to pay around $1.3 million more in public safety pension contributions, a 20 percent increase, which is part of the reason why the village will spend $113,815,226 total, a 1.62 percent increase over the 2016 budget, which was around $112 million.

For the sixth year in a row, Palatine will not increase its property tax levy, keeping it at around $21.7 million. Ottesen said by freezing the levy, the village saved taxpayers more than $300,000 per year or $1.8 million over the six year period.

One way the village decided to save on costs this year is to not replace vehicles in the village fleet as frequently as planned. The adjustments are projected to save $3.9 million over the next 10 years.

The budget is available for review at www.palatine.il.us. The village council is likely to vote on it next month.