Wheaton balances budget

The Wheaton Public Library will have to make do with less as a result of the city adopting a balanced budget.

City council members cut $300,000 in property tax funding for the library Monday night when they adopted Wheaton's roughly $80 million budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

The spending plan, which takes effect May 1, includes a $35.3 million general fund that will pay for salaries and operating expenses during the fiscal year.

In order to avoid a $1.5 million budget shortfall, city officials increased the local taxes on electricity and natural gas and, in January, eliminated 17 positions.

For the library, cuts reduced its total allocation of property tax dollars from $3.4 million to $3.1 million.

"There are some things I would like to fund," Councilman Tom Mouhelis said. "However, I've got to look at it realistically. I've got a fiduciary responsibility to the people in this community. I think we're doing the best job we can."

Library officials didn't attend Monday's meeting. They have said less funding would lead to library staff getting 10 percent pay cuts and taking furlough days. They also said the facility might be forced to close Fridays.

But even a bus route linking Naperville, Wheaton and College of DuPage faced the budget ax.

Despite a request from the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference, Wheaton City Council members didn't budget $30,000 for a contribution to support Pace Bus 714, which runs between Wheaton's downtown train station and Naperville's Edward Hospital campus.

By making cuts and raising some extra revenue, officials say Wheaton will start the fiscal year with a projected $425,000 surplus in its general fund.

"This is a balanced budget," Councilman Phil Suess said. "As we sit here today, we expect a slight surplus and, basically, we do have a little bit of a margin for unexpected events."

Something Wheaton officials hope never happens is Gov. Pat Quinn's proposal to reduce municipalities' share of the state income tax. If Quinn's plan to cut municipalities' share of state income tax from 10 percent to 7 percent is approved, it's estimated that Wheaton could lose roughly $1.3 million a year.

And Wheaton would have to go back and make even more spending cuts, Councilman Liz Corry said.

"Even though we have a balanced budget now, that's a number that we're going to have to eventually deal with if the state does step forward and take that action," Corry said.