How Prospect Heights cut a $500,000 projected deficit

Prospect Heights residents will likely begin to see the effects of bare bones city services this summer, officials said.

The city won't be hiring any seasonal public works staff this year while being short two public works employees who retired and whose jobs remain unfilled due to budget cuts.

"We've made every effort to try and keep our budget problems unnoticeable when it comes to city services," acting Mayor Pat Ludvigsen said. "It's not going to be possible anymore. We're going to be lucky to fill our potholes this year."

The city council is expected to adopt the proposed 2009-2010 budget at its April 20 meeting. It calls for $6.4 million in general fund expenditures, a drop from last year's budget of $7.2 million. The total city budget for all 20 funds is $13.1 million.

"Right now, there's very little more to cut," City Administrator Pam Arrigoni said. "We are down to the bare bones. We almost went down to counting paper clips, which is very sad."

Reducing a roughly $500,000 projected deficit to $288 required making tough decisions, she said.

All city departments cut expenses by 10 percent across the board, which included eliminating training, continuing education for staff, and memberships and certifications. Department heads also took 3.5 percent pay cuts.

"This council and the administration want to show how serious they are about having all of our finances exactly where they are supposed to be," Arrigoni said.

City officials reopened negotiations with union Local 150 for public works and clerical administrative employees, who agreed to 0 percent increases. Officials also put off buying any equipment such as police cars and public works trucks.

Officials were anticipating laying off two police officers this year, but were able to shift funds around to save those positions for one more year due to unexpected revenues from drug seizures.

The police department received more than $300,000 in one-time drug seizure revenue, of which roughly $275,000 was used to plug a hole in the 2009-2010 proposed budget.

That means for now, the police department will retain its 26 sworn officers and two civilian employees managing records and manning the front desk even though voters rejected an additional $1.25 million yearly in property taxes for the police department in the April 7 election.

Arrigoni said the city is likely to face deep deficits again next year.

"We're going to be watching revenue streams," she said. "The fact that the police protection tax did not pass is going to have a huge effect on what we do next year. It's very possible it will be a dire situation."