Chief proposes cuts for Carol Stream fire district

Years of inaccurate accounting procedures and living "fat and sassy" for too long, combined with a decades-low consumer price index, have created quite a headache for Carol Stream's rookie fire chief as he prepares his first annual budget. Chief Rick Kolomay presented the Carol Stream Fire Protection District board with a budget that included more than $300,000 in proposed cuts. Included in those cuts was the elimination of a $150,000 budget item for a part-time firefighter program that Kolomay said he feels strongly about.

"I had a son who started with a similar program," Kolomay said "We have young men and women who are here to start the beginning of a great career. But given the level of cuts I had to execute, it was an attempt to balance that and sustain other services for residents."

The cuts aim to reduce a budget deficit of about $450,000. Options to close that gap included the proposed cuts or using money from the department's reserve funds. But the accuracy of those cuts left Commissioner Jim Panopoulos with more questions than answers.

Last year, he said, the department spent about $78,000 on the part-time firefighter program, meaning the $150,000 estimate was too high in the first place. Also, Panopoulos said the district has frequently misclassified expenses, leading to inaccuracies in fund balances.

But Kolomay said his job was to work with the numbers and projections he is given. Kolomay is expected to return to the board at its next meeting with a revised proposal.

Commissioners also asked him to develop an ordinance that would impose ambulance fees on residents, something the district currently does not do. Carol Stream resident Suzanne Hlotke told the board she was outraged with the board, which she said is now making up for years in which they had little oversight on the residents' money.

"I am personally outraged by what's been going on in the district. Accounting standards have existed long before the district existed," she said. "Why are we all of a sudden looking at accounting standards? You're supposed to be stewards of our money."

Commission President Del Miller admitted that had been an issue, but he said the hire of Comptroller Jim Turi in December opened their eyes to the problems.

"We hired (Turi) to help work through this. We're at a low point," he said. "But if you were to strictly read some of the news media, you'd think we were absolutely broke. That's not the case. We've been fat and sassy for a long time because the village was growing much faster than the need for revenues at the time."