Wheeling trustee candidates say economy is top priority

Attracting new businesses, promoting existing ones and curbing spending should be top priorities for Wheeling's next village board, say three incumbents and a challenger vying for three 4-year trustee seats on April 7.

None of the candidates have a clear plan on how to accomplish that during a national economic crisis. Yet, they agree the village needs to prepare for when the economy does improve and future development projects surface. For that, candidates say, the infrastructure needs to be in place or upgraded.

"Infrastructure (improvements) in certain parts of the village have been on the back burner and they need to make that happen" to expand the economic base, said Stuart Shapiro, a health insurance company employee who ran unsuccessfully for village board twice before.

Incumbent Trustee Mike Horcher, who owns the Horcher family farm in town, says the village is losing businesses across the Lake-Cook Road border to Lake County, where business taxes are lower.

"These businesses are burdened with Cook County real estate tax, the highest in the state," Horcher said. "We'll always have to rely on (taxes) but not as much as we do, if we promote our businesses."

Arguably, Wheeling is in an enviable position among its neighbors. The village has not laid off any employees and still attracts economic development projects.

Yet, the village is looking at a $1.6 million deficit in its 2009 budget and isn't filling any staff vacancies. Officials say they raised the property tax levy by 6.2 percent this year because revenues are down and expenses, especially for pensions, are up.

Incumbent Trustee Kenneth Brady said the village board should try other avenues such as holding off on capital expenditures and eliminating pay raises to save money before considering tax hikes and laying off employees.

"Commercial redevelopment is probably going to be top priority," said Brady, a professional builder. "It's a critical point in the village's time."

Incumbent trustee and Wheeling's acting Village President Dean Argiris said the most challenging task now is restoring the confidence of residents and businesses in their government.

Argiris, a mortgage and insurance broker, said state-mandated municipal contributions and benefits related to police and fire pension funds are killing the village's finances. This year, Wheeling contributed $1.7 million.

"Wheeling has almost $60 million invested in fire and police pension funds," Argiris said. "If we didn't have to contribute, we would have balanced our budget."