Barrington struggles through budget season
As the holiday shopping season accelerates, Barrington is hoping its local businesses see a lot more customers.
The village's sales tax base could use the boost, as Monday night's budget presentation showed a 9 percent dip in Barrington's sales-tax receipts. That's $400,000 less than in 2007, said Trustee Jim Daluga.
Daluga said this year's budget was the most difficult he's ever worked on, referencing earlier in the month when the village announced layoffs to balance the budget.
The decrease in revenue and a lack of consumer confidence made the budget challenging.
"To say the least, this was a difficult setting," Daluga said.
Another item Daluga highlighted was the 300 percent increase in the cost of road salt. Public works will do a presalt treatment using beet juice to help melt ice, which will diminish the need for salt and help keep costs lower. The cost of village health insurance also went up by $122,000.
Village President Karen Darch complimented the village's police department which will also see a large change next year with the creation of the Inverness Police Department in May. Barrington police currently patrol Inverness streets.
Money from Inverness made up 28 percent of the Barrington police budget, which will now be lost, Daluga said. In response, the Barrington department will drop from 34 to about 24 officers. Daluga said police will reduce their budget by 15 percent to 18 percent in upcoming years but would never be able to make up the 28 percent lost from Inverness.
Police Chief Jeff Lawler said he has confidence in his department and his staff's ingenuity to continue to offer quality service to the community. Although most say in dire economic times that crime increases, he's not sure. A recent report showed Barrington crime had dropped last year.
Daluga said the village will lose about 26 full-time employees either from layoffs or retirements.
The village's proposed budget is posted at barrington-il.gov. The village's fiscal year starts in January.