Politics & Government

La Grange Trustees Find Consensus on How to Patch Budget Deficit

Trustees in La Grange signaled their support of village staff's recommendation on how to fill a $133,000 hole in the current year's budget.

La Grange trustees signaled their unanimous support for a plan with spending cuts at a workshop meeting on Monday night. To close the gap in the budget, will be making $162,000 in non-personnel spending cuts.

To make the spending cuts, staff will only replace street signs in La Grange on an "as needed basis," saving the village $100,000. The new, more reflective signs will still need to be replaced fully in years ahead to complete the sign upgrade by a federally mandated deadline. However, Public Works Director Ryan Gillingham told trustees, the deadline has been pushed back several years following the inability of some communities to raise the funds necessary to complete the project in its original timeframe.

The village will also stop funding its Equipment Replacement Fund for the replacement of four administrative vehicles, saving the village $33,500. The replacement of police squad cars will also be delayed with a savings of $43,500. However, with increased maintenance repairs and a lower trade-in value, the actual savings are estimated to be $28,500, resulting in $162,000 in savings to the village.

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Additionally, village staff were instructed to consider the possibility of replacing the administrative vehicles with older squad cars from the police department, or not replacing the administrative vehicles at all, and instead reimbursing staff for their travel expenses.

This year's budget deficit was created when the Village Board failed to pass an increase of its Utility Tax in April, designed to bring the village into line with what other municipalities tax. The increase was planned during the board's budget planning discussions in fall 2011, but when the time came to vote, , citing other tax and fee increases this year and not wanting to add more to resident's taxes. The increase would have added an average of $40 to resident's tax bills annually.

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