East Dundee plan paints bleak picture of village finances

The next five years in East Dundee will be "gray" as the village faces declining revenues and increasing costs, according to a preliminary corporate plan presented to officials this week, a village trustee said.

The document - a five-year plan for East Dundee - projects the village losing up to 25 percent of its sales tax revenues in what Trustee Robert Gorman called a worst-case scenario aimed at preventing overspending.

The document estimates sales taxes will drop from $1.383 million in 2008-2009 to $1.235 million in 2009-2010 and could decline further to $946,000 should Wal-Mart leave town when the retailer opens a new store in West Dundee. Revenue from home rule sales taxes could also dip as much as $250,000.

Village President Dan O'Leary said some capital projects, like a proposed water treatment plant, could be deferred because the financial situation.

Potential sources for new revenues, such as the Thornton's gas station planned for the corner of routes 25 and 68, are not included in the plan, Gorman said.

"The future is hopeful but we need to be conservative about how we spend in the next two years," he said. "The picture is gray, not black. We are painting it as black as we can so that we make some very smart decisions, and it is not that bad."

O'Leary said the village has several projects in the works that are not accounted for in the corporate plan, including Palumbo Management's plans to add another building to its 120-acre business park on Route 72.

While the development will not bring sales tax dollars, its location in a tax increment financing district will produce funding to redevelop the intersection of routes 25 and 68.