Hawthorn Woods nears end of road project

The Hawthorn Woods village board Monday approved three roadwork contracts and three landscaping projects as they near the completion of the seven-year Special Service Area road repairs project.

The project will finish this year and come in $778,000 under budget, said Trustee Jim Silvers during a special board meeting Monday.

Silvers said a portion of $329,000 of unallocated money in the village's community development fund can be used to help finance the project, rather than being budgeted for the village administrator's salary as it was originally.

Mayor Keith Hunt recently vetoed a line item in next year's budget for the village administrator's salary; the position has been vacant since February. The funds were reallocated to the SSA project and the police budget.

The $70,000 set to go into the SSA project after that veto will now be budgeted to hire a village administrator.

"The reality of the situation is we're going to get it all done this year; we don't need to borrow any money," Hunt said.

Incoming Mayor Joe Mancino said he is concerned the village is stretching itself too thin to finish this project.

"I will be out looking for a loan to operate this village if one thing goes wrong," he said.

Mancino pointed to two lawsuits Hawthorn Woods is defending itself against right now, saying there will be no money left if the judgments go against them.

Mancino also said he does not have access to all the information regarding the SSA project, because he is not on the board yet. However, he said the board's approach to funding is leaving village finances dangerously tight.

"They are scraping the bottom of the barrel to get this thing done," Mancino said.

Hawthorn Woods began the SSA project in 2002 in an effort to repave about 39 miles of roads, roughly 80 percent of village streets.