Taste of Lombard threatened by budget woes

The popular Taste of Lombard - a five-day event featuring one of the suburbs' biggest carnivals - is the latest festival threatened by budget woes.

Lombard village board members will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to talk about events, including the Taste, funded by hotel and motel taxes.

The village subsidizes Taste of Lombard to the tune of $110,000, including $30,000 for July 4 fireworks, $38,580 for police overtime, $14,000 for auxiliary police and $8,130 for fire department overtime.

Village Manager Dave Hulseberg said it's premature to talk about the festival being canceled, but added: "In these fiscal times, any of these giveaways - they're the first to be recognized and cut."

The hotel-motel tax also is used to fund Cruise Nights ($44,000), the Lombard Historical Museum ($180,000) and landscaping ($261,000).

The village needs to cut $484,000 in expenses to maintain a 25 percent balance in the hotel-motel account, or $224,000 if it eliminates the fund balance, Hulseberg said.

"This is the same sort of discussion every other community is having," he said. "We're all grappling."

Even if the village board decides to cut or reduce the subsidy for Taste of Lombard, the Jaycees-sponsored event still could continue if the organization raises the money, Hulseberg said.

The workshop is at village hall, 255 E. Wilson Avenue.