Top Barrington administrator recaps 2021 and outlines plan for 2022
Barrington plans to continue its focus on improving connectivity and sustainability, and increasing the vibrancy of its downtown area, which recently has welcomed a few new businesses.
Those were among key points made by Village Manager Scott Anderson during the "State of the Greater Barrington Area" summit hosted this month by the Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce.
Businesses that recently opened in the village include: Kamala's Own Magickal and Mundane Perfumery, Organic Rootz Cafe, Social Design Club, DSP Motorsports and Nekter Juice Bar.
The village is coordinating the construction of a new multiuse path on Main Street and Hart Road, on the south and west sides of Barrington High School. It will provide additional connections between downtown and new pedestrian and bicycle accommodations at Hart Road and Route 14.
Several major projects moved forward or were competed last year in the village, Anderson said. Those include:
• Restoring the Flint Creek area and opening the refurbished Joe Kelsch Sr. Dreamway Trail, a bike and pedestrian path that runs along the creek from Langendorf Park to Barrington High School.
"This public amenity was a great project to showcase the tireless support of community volunteers," as well as cooperation between Barrington Area Unit School District 220 and the Barrington Park District, Anderson said. The project was a runner-up for the Governors Hometown Award.
• Moving forward with the Route 14 underpass project at the Canadian National railroad, east of Route 59. Construction is expected to start early next year.
• Substantially completing a project to improve access to the village's Metra station, with a new traffic signal on Route 14 and improving the internal flow of the commuter parking lots. The number of Metra commuters is down 80% from pre-pandemic times, but the hope is that will increase as more businesses figure out how to balance remote and in-person work, Anderson said.
The village's budget for this year totals $39.4 million, including $17.1 million for the general fund, which pays for day-to-day operations including police, fire and public works.
The 2021 budget, especially lean due to the uncertainty of COVID-19, totaled $36.6 million; the 2020 budget was $38 million.
This year, the village will renegotiate its police and fire contracts and "inflation will definitely play into the conversation," Anderson said.
Like most municipalities, Barrington is having difficulties recruiting for police and public works positions, he added.
"We need to be more innovative in how we structure jobs and how to give flexibility" to workers, Anderson said, noting that nonfinancial incentives also could help.
On the upside, the village took in better-than-anticipated sales tax revenues last year, with a 22% increase over 2020, thanks to strong auto sales, online shopping, groceries and medicine sales, Anderson said.
New services offered by the village include electronic building permit processing with online payments for contractor registration, and food/tobacco and liquor licensing. Anderson said he is proud that resulted in a service improvement award from the Chicago Metro Chapter of the American Public Works Association.
The village reinstated several positions in this year's budget, including a public works maintenance worker, plus support for IT and development services. Even with the new hires, the village has five fewer positions compared to three years ago.
Anderson also said that Barrington endorses the restoration of the state's local government distributive fund, which is central to this year's "Moving Cities Forward" platform by the Illinois Municipal League. The state used to distribute 10% of the total income tax revenue to local municipalities. In 2011, that disbursement was lowered to 6.06% of individual income tax collections and 6.845% of corporate tax collections.
Increasing the distribution to 8% would mean about $200,000 in additional tax revenue for Barrington, Anderson said.