District 59 takes bonds, kitchen commissary out of budget plan

Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59 is removing plans for borrowing $15 million and building a kitchen commissary from its budget proposal, bowing to pressure from residents upset about the district's spending.

School board members Monday asked administrators to cut the two unpopular parts of the budget ahead of a final vote at the end of the month. Their request came days after residents submitted petitions to let voters decide on issuing bonds in the March election.

Last week, a grass-roots group of residents submitted about 4,300 signatures, nearly 1,000 more than required to force a voter referendum. However, if someone challenges the petitions by a deadline Friday, the Cook County clerk's office will step in to determine whether enough signatures are valid to put the question on the ballot.

The district wanted to borrow money to help pay for a $17.2 million administration building and commissary at 1001 Leicester Road in Elk Grove Village, as well as construction projects at three schools. Initially, the district planned to use $5 million from the sale of its administration building in Arlington Heights and reserve funds.

Removing the bonds from the spending plan would cause the district to run a larger deficit, dipping deeper into its reserve fund. Without the bonds, the budget will have a roughly $33 million deficit compared to $19 million previously. Eliminating the commissary saves about $1.1 million.

For the average resident with a $250,000 home, a $15 million bond issue would increase taxes about $15 annually until 2024. The district's boundaries include parts of Elk Grove Village, Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect and Des Plaines.

The bonds could be added to the budget later, if the effort to block borrowing money fails and the school board approves them.

This year's budget is getting more scrutiny than usual because projections released over the summer showed the district would deficit spend $100 million over the next five years. Such aggressive spending - mostly due to adding dozens of employees over the past several years - would be unsustainable and drain reserve funds below a threshold self-imposed by the school board.

The district is now promising to stop all deficit spending by the budget year beginning in September 2020.

Meanwhile, Elk Grove Village trustees gave final approval for the administration building project but nixed the commissary Tuesday.

The district had added plans for the commissary after district's food service contractor, Sodexo, threatened to stop serving lunches in early 2016. The contractor estimated it lost $1 million over two years because District 59 did not have an on-site kitchen.

The district now has a different food service vendor under contract for three years, which prepares meals without an on-site kitchen.

Mayor Craig Johnson had to break a tie vote earlier this month to approve plans that included a commissary.

"It may not be an easy task for them to get a commissary in there in the future," Johnson said before Tuesday's vote.

The school board will vote on the budget at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 28, at 2123 S. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights.