Elk Grove mayor: Tough times will lead to better government

"It's tough out there," Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said Thursday, making no bones about how the village and its businesses are hurting from the economic downturn.

During Thursday's "State of the Village" address to the business community, Johnson said the village had been insulated in the past by healthy reserves but can no longer deplete them.

The village's rainy day fund - once plush with nearly $20 million - is expected to be down to $12.5 million by May 1, 2011, or right at four months worth of operating expenses. That's exactly where officials hope to keep it.

Johnson touted what the village has done to reign in expenses. such as approving a leaner budget of roughly $89 million for 2010-2011 - about $10 million less than the previous fiscal year - and not raising the village's portion of the property tax levy for three years.

"Elk Grove Village has the lowest combined property tax rate of any community in Cook County," Johnson said.

The 2010 budget also includes pay freezes, the elimination of seven employee positions through attrition and retirements, and cuts in special events spending.

The village hasn't laid anyone off in its 55-year history, but is reorganizing and cross-training staff to absorb 18 vacancies resulting in a 10 percent work force reduction, Johnson said.

"We never want to go through those tough times again," he said.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Elk Grove's more than 15 million-square-foot business park - which in November had a 15 percent vacancy rate, its highest ever - has seen an increase in tenancy.

"The good news is our vacancy rate has dropped in the past six months" to under 13 percent, Johnson said. "We are not happy until we get back to our best occupancy rate, 3 percent to 4 percent vacancy."

In the past 10 years, the village has invested $40 million into the business park, which includes improvements in landscaping, street lighting and signs, roadways, rail crossings and transit stops, and creating monuments at gateways into the community. More than $30 million of the funding came from county, state and federal grants.

"We are prepared to announce soon our next 10-year revitalization program," Johnson said.

That's the focus of a June 24 Industrial Commercial Revitalization Commission open house. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at the business park.