Des Plaines approves $175.3 million budget

The Des Plaines City Council unanimously approved a $175.3 million budget Monday and voted to keep property tax levy flat for the sixth straight year, officials said.

The city council added on about $1.5 million from the initial budget to pay for more street resurfacing, sidewalk improvements and another K-9 officer for the police department.

The spending plan is about $24.6 million more than the 2016 budget, largely because of completion of the River Road reconstruction project and the two phases of the FEMA buyout project intended to remove homes from flood-prone areas, Finance Director Dorothy Wisniewski said. The projects are funded by state and federal grant money, and the operational budget did not significantly increase, Wisniewski said.