Schaumburg's 5-year spending plan gets back to basics

Schaumburg has traditionally maintained a five-year plan for capital improvements, but the latest comes as the village is looking high and low for cost-cutting measures.

The village's foreseeable improvements fall largely into the category of road and infrastructure maintenance, which relies on dedicated revenue sources like the motor fuel tax, outside the rise and fall of the general fund's sales taxes.

This separates the current plan not only from the police department's recently suspended DARE anti-drug program and new travel restrictions for village staff, but also from most of the capital improvement plans of the last five years.

Recent capital improvements have included two new fire stations, two fire station renovations, a new public works facility and a jail renovation at the police station - not to mention a major convention center and hotel.

The village does expect to eventually build things again, like a performing arts theater and a full tollway interchange near the convention center on Meacham Road. But most of those remain on the "B list," meaning their revenue sources and time frames haven't been fully identified yet.

While the newly adopted plan doesn't envision imminent changes to the landscape, Mayor Al Larson believes it addresses things residents and visitors notice first.

"They know when the curb is crumbling and there's a pothole out there," Larson said.

The good news for the village is that the major building improvements of the past few years are already out of the way. Basic maintenance that remains is not as contingent on the economy's health, Village Manager Ken Fritz said.

"It's been tight," he said of the village's general revenues. "There's not as much money available from other sources as there was."

Without a property tax, Schaumburg relies heavily on such other revenues as sales, food and beverage and hotel room taxes. The weakening economy has led the village to expect some dipping into its reserves this year. But by adopting some cost-cutting measures, the village expects to reduce this year's deficit from $8.1 million to $4.2 million.