La Grange Budget Plan: No Layoffs or Service Cuts, But Pay and Hiring Freezes

The La Grange Board of Trustees and department heads spent much of Saturday pouring over a proposed $12.4 million spending plan for 2011-2012 that increases spending by $330K while reducing personnel costs through hiring and salary freezes, as well as through other measures, to save approximately $500K over the next five years.

Some of the spending increases include an estimated 7.5 percent increase in health insurance costs, $22,968 in increased pension fund contributions and the purchase of a Geographical Information System, which will allow more efficient data sharing across all village departments. The GIS will work in conjunction with the village 9-1-1 mapping system.

To offset some of those expenditures, the village will increase the cost of vehicle license fees by $10 and also increase utility fees and parking fines in future budgets.

Keeping with village tradition, the spending plan for the next fiscal year also looks ahead five years to forecast future expenses and revenues, Village Manager Bob Pilipiszyn said.

Pilipiszyn told the board the streamlined budget includes shared sacrifices across the board in order to maintain the “long term health and strength” of the village. He said the slowdown in the national economy created “fiscal stress” on village finances, particularly hindering village revenue streams. Pilipiszyn said although the economy is beginning to recover some, most revenue streams are still below performance rates seen prior to the recession. He said the village has had to use reserve funds to offset lost revenues. But, he said if that continues, reserves—currently at $6.6 million—will dwindle to 25 percent and leave little room for any emergency contingencies.

With 85 percent of the budget funding salaries and other personnel costs for 99 full-time employees and 34 regular and seasonal part-time positions, Pilipiszyn said cost saving measures that include reduced personnel expenses must be taken in order to manage the deficit. That includes freezing of administrative staff salaries—a two year freeze for Pilipiszyn and one year freeze for other staff members—increasing health care contributions to 10 percent, and village employees receiving a 2 percent raise as opposed to previous increases of nearly 3 percent. Pilipiszyn said he is negotiating with four unions representing village workers for similar smaller salary bumps.

In addition, the village plans on not filling some vacant positions in various departments, Pilipiszyn said. Specifically, following the upcoming retirement of a police officer, the village plans to hire one new employee for the public works department, which would then leave the fire, police and public works departments each operating one employee short of full staff.

News of not filling a vacant position in the police department did not sit well with La Grange resident Karen Deane, who referenced the police department's current roster of 25 full-time officers.

"I just can't believe they would have one less officer patrolling when you have the same population, a busier downtown, all the kids who walk to school," Deane said in an e-mail to Patch on Monday.

A full time police officer would add an additional $110,000 per year to the budget; an additional part time officer is $45,000 per year, Pilipiszyn said at an earlier board meeting. La Grange Police Chief Mike Holub said he is comfortable with the performance of his officers in providing a safe environment for the people of La Grange, on March 2.

But, Pilipiszyn said maintaining strict controls over personnel costs will generate approximately $500,000 in annual savings for the next five years and that he expects no layoffs and no hindrance of services in the next fiscal year. He said when economic conditions improve he wants to fill those vacant positions.

While much of the budget workshop was a department by department review process, there were some points of contention in the spending plan, including the budget for village legal fees and a proposed $50,000 for a village branding exercise.

The budget for community development includes $25,000 for marketing expenses and $50,000 for branding. Community Development Director Patrick Benjamin said rebranding the community would improve economic development efforts.

However, trustees Mark Kuchler and Michael Horvath said they thought with a tight budget, $50,000 could be spent elsewhere. Likewise Trustee Bill Holder said a branding project could be done in a year when the village has a stronger revenue flow.

“I think our brand of ‘Ah La Grange’ is tired, but I just don’t know whether or not we can afford this now,” Holder said.

Board members also questioned a $100,000 reduction in the legal budget. Staff proposed a line item of $206,000 for legal expenses for the next budget due to no looming legal issues. The trustees though said they would feel more comfortable if more money were allocated to that budget item on the chance an extraordinary legal issue arose in the next year.