Glen Ellyn cuts money for community groups

Several Glen Ellyn community groups can expect less - or no - money from the village as it continues to make funding decisions before approving its budget next month.

The village board on Monday discussed the special programs budget, which includes money that is given to groups such as the Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance and the DuPage Senior Citizens Council.

Nine groups made their appeals for annual funding a week earlier, and the board on Monday discussed recommendations to cut about $300,000 made by Village Manager Steve Jones. The cuts are all part of a larger discussion about deficits in the budget; part of that also includes a proposal for an increase in the village sales tax.

Trustees agreed not to publish a village calendar in 2010 and print only four newsletters instead of six next year, saving $36,800. Although board members said the calendar is helpful as a compilation of village information, all of it also can be found on Glen Ellyn's Web site.

In addition, the village distributes weekly e-mail newsletters, which trustees argued means more information is getting out to the public than ever before.

The board also agreed to remove $35,000 in contributions to the historical society, which drops the group back to its 2005-06 funding level of $20,000.

"This is the cut I feel worst about recommending," Jones said.

The board also agreed to slice capital improvements at the History Center at a cost of $130,000, which coincides with the village removing its own capital outlay funding.

Trustees took away $32,500 proposed for the DuPage Senior Citizens Council, which it started contributing to in the 2007-08 budget. The village instead will keep $97,600 of its own money to put toward senior services in town.

Finance Director Jon Batek said the village already does things with its senior center that don't happen in other towns, so the council funding isn't necessary.

Other reductions included $5,000 for holiday decorations; $15,000 to Anima, formerly the Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus; and $25,000 that would have gone to restoring the historic horse trough.

The board agreed to leave in $40,000 for the engineering of one-way downtown streets into two-way roads if the next board decides to act on that in the next budget cycle.

The Downtown Glen Ellyn Alliance also will be getting an extra $10,000 - up to $20,000 this year.

The only item where the board strayed from Jones' recommendations was with the Economic Development Corporation. Although the suggestion had been to decrease funding in half from $48,000, the village board agreed to include that extra $24,000 for facade and renovation matching grants, with the caveat that the group give $10,000 to the Alliance.

Trustee Peter Ladesic said it was time for the Economic Development Corporation to be folded in with other groups in town, since it hasn't proven effective, but other trustees said to wait on that proposal.