Arlington Heights' budget at 8% less
Arlington Heights officials are set to approve a $136 million budget which is lighter than this year's $148 million budget.
"It's really a status quo budget," said Director of Finance Tom Kuehne. "There aren't a whole lot of major changes."
After a public hearing, the village board will vote on the budget on Monday. The meeting starts at 8 p.m. and will be the first meeting in the new village hall at 33 S. Arlington Heights Road.
About 11 percent of a resident's total tax bill goes to the village. The largest portion of the tax bill -- about 67 percent -- goes to school districts.
The village's fiscal year begins May 1 and ends April 30, 2009.
While the proposed operating budget is $136 million, the general fund is set at $84 million, which is less than this year's $87 million.
Kuehne said the decrease in the general fund is due to the completion of major construction projects, including the new village hall and Vail Street Garage.
The general fund pays for most village services. About 77 percent of the fund is slated for village employees' wages and benefits.
Property taxes are budgeted at $16 million for the next budget year, Kuehne said.
For the past few years, sales tax in the village has brought in about $15 million a year. That figure is expected to increase by $837,000 next year and a soon-to-open Rohrman Nissan dealership is expected to pay about $600,000 of that increase. The car dealership anticipates moving from Buffalo Grove to Arlington Heights this month.
The village also has a reserve account which is currently about $22 million, Kuehne said.
"In order to weather bad economic times, it's village policy to have a reserve account that is 25 percent of the total budget," he said.
However, the $22 million is almost 35 percent of the total budget. While the figure is high, Kuehne isn't concerned the reserve account is too large.
"I know some towns that have a reserve account that is 50 percent of the total budget," he said.
Some of next year's big expenditures include $4 million for the street resurfacing program and $2 million to fix deteriorated pavement, curbs and concrete panels.