Antioch trustees take a closer look at budget

Antioch village board members are set to take another crack at the fiscal year 2009 budget to address spending concerns raised by new Mayor Larry Hanson.

The special budget meeting is set for tonight, about a month after the original $11.1 million budget was passed by the board headed by former mayor Dorothy Larson.

Hanson called for the budget review shortly after being sworn into office May 4. He also gained approval of a second resolution to rescind the 3.5 percent pay raise for nonunion employees, which he said was out of line given the current recession.

"We need to check everything," Hanson said. "We need to take a closer look at the numbers. My concern is that we are off $1.5 million revenues to expenses."

The move to rescind the pay raise isn't sitting well with trustees Mick Wolczyz and Scott Pierce.

Wolczyz said Tuesday that village workers should not be taking the hit.

"I feel bad for the employees. This is going to kill morale and hurt productivity," he said. "Our employees are not the highest paid, but they are happy and productive. This is going to more damaging in the long term."

Pierce said the board needs to look for other ways to save money.

"Employees have taken the brunt over the years. Giving them a raise and then taking it away will make them want to go union," he said. "We'll be paying more in the end."

Hanson said he feels for the employees, but he also does not want the village to end up in the red next year.

"Nobody is trying to hurt anybody," he said. "We are trying to be fiscally prudent. We want to make sure all the numbers jive and everything matches up. A lot of states and a lot of communities are in the red, we don't want to be one of them."

The village ended the last fiscal year with a surplus. It's an accomplishment Hanson would like to see duplicated this year.

Pierce said he feels confident about the revenue projections calculated by Finance Director Joy McCarthy. He said the original budget would have sufficed.

"Wal-Mart is doing much better than anticipated and we didn't lose any car dealerships like other towns have," Pierce said. "I think we'll be pleasantly surprised by our revenue picture."

The board will likely meet two more times before voting on the budget. Wolczyz said the village technically has until July 31 to get things ironed out, but expects the board to reach an agreement by mid-June.