Buffalo Grove approves $75 million budget, small levy hike

Buffalo Grove's village board on Monday approved a $75 million budget for 2017 - less than 1 percent higher than this year's spending plan - despite objections from a handful of residents unhappy about employee pay raises.

Trustees also approved a tax levy of $15.5 million, which will be collected from taxpayers in 2017. The amount, about 2.6 percent higher than last year, means a property tax hike of about $26 for the owner of a typical home in the village, officials say.

Finance Director Scott Anderson said the plan calls for no additional staffing and a general wage increase of 2 percent for nonunion employees.

That was a sore point for resident Craig Horwitz, a frequent critic of village finances. He appeared at the village board Monday with a faucet he called "the money faucet."

"It's a simple concept," he said. "Whenever village government needs more money, it just goes to the money faucet. Turn it on and out more money comes."

Horwitz said that while "most people in this room haven't seen wage increases," village staff has seen an almost 25 percent increase in salary since 2012.

"I don't think there should be any wage increases. Not this year," he said.

Anderson defended the raises.

"The average annual growth of our wages over the last 10 years is eight-tenths of a percent," he said. "If you take a look at inflation over the same period, you're looking at about 1.7 percent."

He said the village has reduced its workforce by 17 percent through attrition. The growth in salaries, he said, is related to employees that had been hired at the bottom of their pay range receiving pay raises and pay-for-performance incentives.

Other residents expressed their frustration with rising taxes.

Li Zhou said she has seen her property taxes - about 10 percent of which goes to the village - climb from about $10,000 to $14,000 in the last six years, while the value of her home has remained basically the same. She said she enjoys the community, but it is getting to the point where she can no longer afford to live in the village.