Road repairs, drainage fix on Deer Park's to-do list

Deer Park will spend more this year on roads and drainage, despite voters' rejection of a sales tax increase that would have given the village extra money.

Deer Park trustees this week approved next year's $3.4 million budget, of which more than a third will be spent on roads, drainage and infrastructure repair.

While he'd hoped to put more money aside for road repairs than the $551,000 budgeted, Trustee Bob Kellermann, chairman of the village's roads and public utilities committee, said it is an improvement over last year's $155,000.

"It is a step in the right direction," he said. "But, there is still a lot more work to do."

Village trustees had said if the proposed sales tax increase of 0.5 percentage point -- or an additional half-cent on the dollar -- would have been approved in February, the estimated $700,000 it raised annually would been used on road and drainage improvements.

Besides an escalated road maintenance program, which will consist of patching and sealing throughout the village, resurfacing will also be done in the Country Corners subdivision, the north section of the Rue Valley subdivision, and a portion of the Swansway subdivision.

In terms of fixing roads, Village President Scott Gifford said the village is doing what the voters wanted.

"We're working on the roads program with the money we have," Gifford said. "It will just take us longer to do everything."

The largest expense in the budget is the $1.33 million for police services from the village of Kildeer.

In December, Deer Park trustees agreed to a new five-year deal with Kildeer to continue providing police services. Deer Park had considered an 10-year offer from the Barrington-Inverness Police Department.

Other expenses in this year's budget include about $221,000 for salaries and benefits of the village's staff and more than $106,000 for park expenses, including landscaping maintenance and the addition of new playground equipment.

"I think it is an excellent budget," Gifford said. "We basically hit all of our goals."

On the revenue side, village officials said they are expecting to take in about $2.9 million. The village estimates it will take in about $1.43 million from its portion of the state sales tax.

The projected deficit of about $500,000 will be covered from the village's cash reserve fund. Gifford said at the end of next year, they expect the fund to still have about $1.2 million in it.

The deficit could be less than projected depending on if any revenue is garnered from a red-light camera enforcement program, which is scheduled to start in the fall.

Next year's budget runs from May 1 through the end of April 2009.