South Elgin's budget rises with liability, police pension costs
The village of South Elgin had a very good 2017 for new residential construction, and officials expect more of the same in the coming year.
Village officials estimated construction started on 369 housing units, ranging from senior apartments to luxury 4,000-square-foot homes, in the current fiscal year, yielding about $1 million in building permit fees and about $4.4 million in revenues including impact fees and water and sewer connections.
"It's pretty much all over ... really from Route 25 to Randall Road," said Megan Golden, director of administrative services.
The budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year, which starts May 1, estimates another 435 housing starts yielding about $900,000 in building permit fees and about $3.7 million in revenues, documents show. A public hearing on the budget is at 7 p.m. Monday at 10 N. Water St.
The 2018-19 general fund budget, which pays for day-to-day operations, accounts for nearly $18.3 million in expenses, including $2 million in transfers to pay for roadwork and parks improvements. The transfers notwithstanding, planned expenses are $663,000 more than the current fiscal year's.
The increase stems partly from a $155,000 increase to police pension contributions, which will total $1.4 million, and an increase to insurance liability costs, mostly related to the timing of workers' compensation claims, Golden said. New expenses include nearly $118,000 to streamline police computer systems, a $25,000 "use of force" video simulator for police officers, a $15,500 computer recovery system, and a $7,500 village employee survey.
The village has 70 full-time employees. The 2018-19 budget includes two new positions - an IT help desk job with a starting annual pay of $52,000, and a communication specialist at $58,000 - Golden said. The latter comes in the wake of the retirement of Mary Vandenboom, assistant to the village administrator.
The budget includes a 3 percent salary increase for police department union employees. The contract for International Union Of Operating Engineers Local 150 expires April 30 and negotiations haven't started, Golden said. Nonunion employees are getting 2.8 percent raises on average.
The village plans to replace about 3,000 feet of water mains along Route 31 from about Spring to Quarry streets at an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million.
Public Works Director Richard Gallas said if everything goes smoothly the work will start in June or July and last about four months. Village officials hope to beautify that stretch of Route 31 in conjunction with the water main work and have applied for a $1.6 million grant from the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program.
Each year the village focuses on a neighborhood to do road projects. This year, it plans to resurface several roads in the Thornwood subdivision.
Park projects include replacing the playground for kids 2 to 5 at Fox Meadow Park and removing the playground at Arbor Park, which is about two blocks from another playground, said Kim Wascher, director of parks and recreation.
The village is projecting $9.5 million in general fund reserves - or 52 percent of operating expenses - at the end of the 2018-19 fiscal year, Golden said.