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Roselle seeking donations for fireworks

If Roselle residents want the village to have a fireworks show in July, they need to dig into their pocketbooks to help pay for it.

The town is once again doing a “Get a Bang for Your Buck” campaign in an effort to raise $25,000 for its July 4 fireworks display.

“Everybody who came to the fireworks last year enjoyed them immensely,” Mayor Gayle Smolinski said. “We had a great turnout. So I'm hoping residents will remember that and contribute.”

Last year's fundraising campaign generated roughly $9,300, which was far short of its $15,000 goal. However, the fireworks show went on because a group associated with Mission Church of Bloomingdale donated $9,000, raising the total collected to $18,300.

Smolinski said the group isn't expected to make another contribution this year. And because of continued budget reductions, the village can't pay for fireworks.

“We had to decide between wants and needs,” Smolinski said of the budget. “While we would love to be able to provide fireworks, it's a service we can't provide. We have other things we need to get done, so we've left it up to the residents.”

Roselle's budget shortfalls have been caused by flat property and sales tax revenues and late reimbursements from the state. The village hasn't had room in its budget for fireworks for the past four years.

Even though the village didn't have money for fireworks in 2010 or 2011, community groups such as the Roselle Chamber of Commerce and area businesses came to the rescue to pay for the display.

In 2012, however, the village couldn't find a sponsor, and the show was canceled.

Roselle has had some discussions with other towns about the possibility of doing a joint fireworks show, but Smolinski said those talks “haven't gone very far.”

In the meantime, the village must reach two fundraising goals.

It needs to raise $18,000 by March 1 to give officials time to secure a fireworks vendor and the full $25,000 is needed by June 27 to finalize a contract.

As of Thursday, Roselle had collected $2,522.

“We're going to continue the fundraising and see if we can make it (fireworks) happen this year,” Smolinski said.

If $18,000 isn't raised by the March deadline, the fireworks will be canceled and money collected will be put toward a 2015 show.

Donations to the fireworks fund are being accepted in person, by mail and online.

If you mail a donation, send it to Village of Roselle, 31 S. Prospect St., Roselle, IL 60172.

Donations also can be placed in a payment drop box in the circle drive in front of village hall or given to a staff member at the finance counter inside village hall.

Finally, donors can visit the village's website at roselle.il.us/fireworks to make a credit card payment (convenience charges apply).

People visiting the website also can download a coupon to be included with check or cash donations, track campaign donation progress and view a donor recognition page.

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