Arlington Hts. approves $135 million budget million

The Arlington Heights village budget of $135 million sailed through board approval this week without comment from any residents.

The board made no changes to the staff-generated draft budget discussed during a series of public hearings in March.

The budget, which covers the 12 months starting May 1, is down 4.2 percent from the previous year. The general fund of $64 million is up 2.4 percent, which Thomas Kuehne, director of finance, attributes to more funding for police and fire pensions, and an increase in health insurance costs that actually turned out to be smaller than expected.

Earlier the board had increased the tax on electricity and natural gas from 3 percent to 5 percent, a move expected to bring in $2 million annually. The board acted to offset decreases in revenue from taxes on income, telecommunications, and hotel services as well as drops in building permit fees and interest income.

One successful cost-cutting move was the voluntary early retirement program, which was accepted by 13 employees. After some of these vacancies were filled, the staff was down the equivalent of 4.5 full-time positions, which is expected to save $485,000 each year, plus $113,00 in savings by filling the other positions with less experienced personnel.

A total of 7.5 positions were cut this year, including one layoff, said Kuehne, bringing the total in position reductions to 46 over three years. The board also eliminated the Too Good for Drugs program and closed the Teen Center to save money.