Restored revenues driving Schaumburg's new 'normal' budget

Schaumburg trustees Tuesday are poised to approve a new annual budget being touted as a return to normal for the village of 71,000 residents and Illinois' second-largest hub of economic activity.

Driving it is the restoration of financial reserves after the pandemic's previous severe impact on consumer-generated tax revenues, officials said.

"This budget is so much better than the past two," Mayor Tom Dailly said. "To me, it ticked off a lot of the things we wanted to do as we return to normal."

Among those is the amount planned for road repairs and maintenance.

The proposed budget earmarks $21 million for street repairs, including $8 specifically for residential streets.

Schaumburg plans to use federal funding to resurface six areas of roadway and start reconstruction of Rodenburg Road. More than $11 million is budgeted for these and other major road projects, with the village's share being $4.2 million.

While the state of the pandemic is having a kinder impact on the economy than two years ago, Dailly also credits village staff for some of what he sees as the positive aspects of the budget. He said the administration has been careful with rehiring and is working to reduce leaks and other inefficiencies with the water system that contributed to the water rate on residents' bills being kept consistent for the year ahead.

Total revenues budgeted for the fiscal year beginning May 1 are $265 million while total costs are $283 million. But the budget is considered balanced because some of the capital improvements of the year ahead received their funding in the past and that does not show up as new revenue, Dailly said.

The return of stronger revenues after the downturn of the pandemic is something Dailly said he started to notice in the fall. People are starting to spend money in the village as they did before the COVID-19 outbreak, although some of the bigger companies have not returned to their offices to the same degree smaller ones have, he added.

Nevertheless, Schaumburg is budgeting cautiously for the year ahead, officials said.

"The village is certainly more optimistic about budget planning this year than in the past couple years, which allows us to restore in several areas that were reduced during the pandemic," finance director Lisa Petersen said. "However, while the revenue increases we've seen in FY 21/22 have been impressive, it is largely due to inflation and one-time revenues, so we will continue to closely monitor trends and remain conservative."

Economic development projects during the coming year include the opening of Tony's Fresh Market in the former Dominick's building in Town Square and preparation of a new entertainment district around the Renaissance Hotel and Schaumburg Convention Center. The latter will include Andretti Indoor Karting & Games.

Activity at the Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts and special events such as a three-day Septemberfest during Labor Day weekend are planned to be back to pre-pandemic norms.

Some of the budget's goals have been shaped by residents' largely positive responses to a recent National Community Survey, Village Manager Brian Townsend said.

"The proposed budget is a responsible plan that allows the village to continue on its path of progress by focusing on areas that have been deemed important by the Schaumburg community," Townsend said. "While we are pleased residents have rated Schaumburg as an excellent place to live, we know there is always room to grow so that we can continue providing a high quality of life to people who live, work and play here."

Details of the budget can be found at schaumburg.com/budget.