East Dundee workers to get pay freezes

East Dundee trustees this week approved a balanced budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, but there is at least one factor that could tilt the village's financial statement the wrong way.

The budget approved on Monday is based on a wage freeze for all employees to help the village fill a potential $138,000 gap, Village President Dan O'Leary said.

The freeze on salary increases alone is projected to save the village about $90,000.

However, unionized members of the village's police department are eligible for a pay increase on May 1, Village Administrator Frank Koehler said.

The village has asked members of the Metropolitan Alliance of Police to waive the salary enhancement but has yet to receive a response.

Should the union members refuse to waive the salary increase, O'Leary said layoffs in the police department are expected.

"The only option presented to the board was staff reductions," O'Leary said. "The board is not favorable to that suggestion, but if the police say no, the budget isn't balanced and we have to do something."

O'Leary estimates 11 of the police department's 17 officers are union members and would receive a 5.2-percent increase on average.

That would leave the village about $44,000 short of a balanced budget, said Nick Cinquegrani, the village's finance director.

It is estimated the village will receive about $3.6 million in total revenues in 2009-2010, down from the 2008-2009 figure of $3.9 million.

At the same time, expenditures are expected to dip at an identical rate, leaving the village with a minimal surplus of $1,852.

The village estimates sales tax revenues will slide more than 18 percent from almost $1.4 million to about $1.1 million.

Cinquegrani said those figures take into account a full year of sales tax revenue from Wal-Mart.

"We are seeing a reduction of sales tax across the board," Cinquegrani said.